Visual Assay of Total Iron in Human Serum with Bathophenanthrolin Disulfonate-accommodated MCM-41.

A simple visual method for determining the total iron in human serum is proposed based on color development in the nanospace of mesoporous silica MCM-41 and a chromogenic ligand bathophenathroline disulfonate (BPS). Observing the color intensity of a complex between iron(II) and BPS devloped on the MCM-41 material by the naked eye enabled us to quntify iron(II) with a detection limit of 0.5 μM.