Counterfeiting and inverse engineering
of different artificial
industries have significantly increased, which is a challenge for
the originality of the crafts that are known as the cultural products
of different nations. To prevent counterfeiting in the art market,
it is needed to mark the original crafts with anti-counterfeiting
inks using high technologies for their easy authentication. In this
study, poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer-modified microcrystalline
cellulose decorated with coumarin moieties was prepared to design
a biobased anti-counterfeiting ink for authentication of original
artificial industries based on Förster resonance energy transfer
(FRET). For this purpose, the first generation of the PAMAM dendrimer
was divergently grown onto the microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) surface
and subsequently decorated with coumarin moieties using a Michael
addition reaction to obtain a fluorescent hybrid dendrimer. Physical
incorporation of fluorescein into the aqueous hybrid dendrimer dispersion
resulted in a chemosensor and also an anti-counterfeiting ink based
on the FRET mechanism, where the coumarin-decorated hybrid dendrimer
acts as a donor and fluorescein plays the role of an acceptor. This
aqueous FRET probe based on bioresources was applicable for ion and
pH sensing due to the presence of nitrogen atoms on the dendritic
structure and also for preparation of anti-counterfeiting inks for
use on cellulosic papers, security documents, and, most importantly,
artificial industries. This work could help to reduce forgery in artificial
industries, authentication of the original handicrafts from the fakes,
and prevent from counterfeiting in the art market.