Synthesis and Identification of Artificial Antigens for an Antibody of Anthracene

To detect the residue of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the environment quickly by immune method, preparation of high quality antibody against PAHs is the most critical step of the project As the first step toward developing sensitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for selective detection of anthracene in environment, a new hapten was synthesized by the Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction from anthracene. It bears a carboxylic group with four carbon length spacer at the position 1 of anthracene. The hapten was characterized by ¹H NMR, IR, and element analysis. The hapten was coupled with bovine serum albumin (BSA) to raise an antibody or with ovalbumin (OVA) to form competitor conjugate. The artificial antigents were verified by their spectral characteristics using ultraviolet spectrophotometry. The resultant immunogen was fabricated and used to stimulate immune responses in rabbits to survey the characteristics of the hapten. The obtained antiserum exhibited relatively high antibody titer (1:110000) in indirect ELISA.