Covalent immobilization of amphiphilic monolayers containing urease onto optical fibers for fluorimetric detection of urea

Bifunctional 11 or 12 carbon chain length amphiphiles with a triethoxy chlorosilane group at one terminus and an amine functionality at the other terminus are covalently immobilized onto planar quartz wafers and optical fibers. A small amount of the fluorescent probe nitrobenzaoxadiazole dipalmitoylphosphatidylethanolamine (NBD-PE) is partitioned into the membranes from an aqueous suspension. For coated wafers or fibers placed into aqueous …