Abstract
The authors describe a fluorometric method for the turn-on determination of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). The blue fluorescence of silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs; with excitation/emission maxima at 350/450 nm) is found to be quenched by CoOOH nanoparticles (NPs). In the presence of vitamin C, the CoOOH NPs are decomposed by a redox reaction between the diol group of vitamin C and CoOOH NPs. As a result, fluorescence recovers. On the basis of this finding, a fluorometric method was designed for the turn-on detection of vitamin C. Under optimal conditions, the method has a low detection limit (0.47 μM) and a linear response in the 0.5 μM to 20 μM a concentration range. It was successfully applied to the determination of vitamin C in spiked red grape and orange juice, and in vitamin C tablets.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21475043, 21874042, and 21675051), Foundation of the Science & Technology Department of Hunan Province (2016SK2020), and Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018 M640753).
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Research Highlights
• A label free target-triggered dissociation of quencher-based strategy for vitamin C was designed based on vitamin C-triggered destruction of CoOOH nanoparticles
• This target-triggered dissociation of CoOOH nanoparticles-based strategy was high sensitivity
• This method has been successfully applied to the detection of vitamin C in spiked food, beverage and tablet samples with satisfactory results
• This target-triggered dissociation of quencher-based strategy will enrich the design strategies of biosensors
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Lu, Q., Chen, X., Liu, D. et al. A turn-on fluorescent probe for vitamin C based on the use of a silicon/CoOOH nanoparticle system. Microchim Acta 186, 72 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-018-3181-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-018-3181-z