The initiative to use chlorine for disinfecting our water supply significantly improved the quality of life for mankind. Disinfecting the water supply has resulted in tremendous reduction in the spread of waterborne illnesses. The possibility of a biological contamination of the water supply is a reality and hence water monitoring is a task of top priority. Immunoassays can be integrated into a point of use biosensor that requires little or no skill to use for water quality monitoring. The first project in this dissertation addresses the challenges of monitoring the water supply using a bead based sandwich immunoassay. A bead based sandwich immunoassay for detecting MS2 bacteriophage was used as a model simulant for detecting viral threat agents by fluorescence and electrochemical detection. The project assessed the effect of chlorine disinfectant on: 1) The immunoassay performance using fluorescence and electrochemical detection. And 2) How chlorine modifies the MS2 coat protein.
The second part of this dissertation addresses the reaction of chlorine with tryptophan side chain. Indole-3-acetic acid was used a tryptophan analog in order to study how chlorine modifies the side chain. The major product formed was isolated, purified and characterized by mass spectrometry, FTIR and NMR analysis.