VerraGlo, LLC — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase I: 8.5

Description

Collaborators at VerraGlo LLC and the University of Kentucky have discovered manganese-dopednanocrystals that possess artificial peroxidase activity and emit luminescence in the visible regionof the electromagnetic spectrum.Luminescence emissions chemically stimulated from theperoxidase mechanism are proportional to the hydroperoxide content of samples (R2 > 0.98 usingcommercially available luminometers). The VerraGlo test medium will introduce a novel methodfor analyzing hydroperoxides which will initially focus on edible fats & oils. Throughout the foodindustry fats and oils must be continually tested to meet product specifications and assure quality.The industry standard for measuring Peroxide Values (PV) is an iodometric titration that requireslaboratory glassware the use of flammable and toxic solvents that are expensive to purchase anddispose after use takes about 15 minutes to conduct suffers from lack of sensitivity and poorendpoint determination and requires trained personnel (AOCS Official Method Cd 8b-90). Thecurrent VerraGlo assay that uses light-emitting crystals (LEC) with peroxidase activity can measurePV in about 5 minutes with an existing commercially available handheld luminometer.The methoduses no laboratory glassware no solvents and no cleanup; the sample vial is disposable. Each assayrequires only 20 mg of LEC and 0.4 milliliters of oil. One of the largest food processing andcommodities trading companies in the world Archer Daniels Midland has provided a strong letterof support (included in this proposal).ADM alone processes over 50000 metric tons per day ofvegetable oils which have to be tested at multiple steps in the process for "peroxide value".