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Synthesis of peptide templated copper nanoclusters for fluorometric determination of Fe(III) in human serum

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Abstract

Copper nanoclusters (Cu-NCs) were prepared by reducing CuCl2 with ascorbic acid in the presence of the short peptide template Cys-Cys-Cys-Asp-Leu. They were characterized by UV-vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The Cu-NCs have a size of ~2 nm, can be well dispersed in water and are photostable. Their fluorescence (peaking at 425 nm under 365-nm excitation) is quenched by Fe(III) ions. Based on this finding, a sensitive and selective fluorescence assay for the detection of Fe(III) was developed. Under optimized conditions and a pH value of 2.0, the assay displays a linear response in the 0.05 to 30 μM Fe(III) concentration range, with a detection limit of 20 nM based on an S/N ratio of 3. The assay was successfully applied to the determination of Fe(III) in spiked human serum where is gave recoveries that ranged from 96.2 % to 98.3 %.

Copper nanoclusters (Cu-NCs) were prepared by reducing CuCl2 with ascorbic acid with peptide as the template. The fluorescence of Cu-NCs is quenched by Fe(III) ions with a linear response in the 0.05 to 30 μM of Fe(III) concentration range.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2014CB744502), the Special Foundation for State Major Basic Research Program of China (2015FY111100), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21575165) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan province (No. 2015JJ1019) for supporting this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410083, China

    Ting Tang, Jiang Ouyang, Lanshuang Hu, Linyan Guo & Minghui Yang

  2. Department of Dermatology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410083, China

    Xiang Chen

  3. Hunan Key Laboratory of Skin Cancer and Psoriasis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410083, China

    Xiang Chen

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  1. Ting Tang
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  2. Jiang Ouyang
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  3. Lanshuang Hu
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  4. Linyan Guo
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  5. Minghui Yang
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  6. Xiang Chen
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Correspondence to Minghui Yang or Xiang Chen.

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Tang, T., Ouyang, J., Hu, L. et al. Synthesis of peptide templated copper nanoclusters for fluorometric determination of Fe(III) in human serum. Microchim Acta 183, 2831–2836 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-1935-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-1935-z

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