There are numerous chemicals that people use to make their lives easier, safer, and more efficient. HSO₃^- is a crucial anion for most life forms, and is often used as a food preservative for its enzyme inhibitor, antimicrobial agent, and antioxidant features. It, therefore, provides a long shelf life for food and beverages. However, various studies have shown that the excess amount of HSO₃^- can lead to cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases like asthma, lung cancer, and allergic reactions such as wheezing, hives, and breathing difficulties. So, the detection of this ion instantly and continuously is very important.

In this context; Prof. Dr. İsmail Yılmaz and his research group have developed a Near Infrared (NIR), glyoxal-modified colorimetric and fluorometric chromenylium-cyanine-based chemosensor (CyR) and applied it for highly selective and sensitive analysis of HSO₃^- in the red wine, rose wine, and granulated sugar with very fast response time without any interference from other anions. CyR has average linear ranges (10–160 μM and 145–270 μM for the ratiometric UV–Vis and fluorescence techniques, respectively) and response time (300 s). Most importantly, the probe is the first example of a NIR spectrophotometric probe for smartphone and paper strip applications for visual quantitative detection of HSO₃^- with the longest emission wavelength in the NIR range. This study was published in the prestigious journal "Talanta" in the field of analytical chemistry.

We believe that the study will certainly assist design and synthesis of new NIR-chemosensors on quantification of HSO₃^- for food and beverage control.