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Assay of 1-hydroxypyrene via aggregation-induced quenching of the fluorescence of protamine-modified gold nanoclusters and 9-hydroxyphenanthrene-based sensitization

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Abstract

This work describes a method for the determination of 1-hydroxypyrene (OH-Py) via aggregation-induced quenching of the emission of protamine-coated gold nanoclusters using 9-hydroxyphenanthrene (OH-Phe) as a sensitizer to boost the emission efficiency of nanoprobe. Under optimum conditions, the drop in fluorescence intensity at excitation/emission wavelengths of 300/596 nm is proportional to the concentrations of OH-Py in the range from 1.0 to 65 nM. The relative standard deviations are 4.2, 2.4 and 1.9% (for n = 11) at concentration levels of 8.0, 32 and 48 nM of OH-Py, respectively. The detection limit is 0.3 nM which is much lower than that of some previously reported methods. The recoveries from urine samples spiked with OH-Py ranged between 94.4 and 98.8%.

1-Hydroxypyrene (OH-Py) can trigger the aggregation of protamine-gold nanoclusters (PRT-AuNCs), resulting in the emission quenching of PRT-AuNCs. 9-Hydroxyphenanthrene (OH-Phe) can boost the emission efficiency of nanoprobe. Thereby, a highly sensitive assay of OH-Py was established.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21177052, 11405081), the Science and Technology Program of Hunan Province in China (2010SK3039), the Key R&D Program of Hunan Province (2018SK2029), the Fund of Hengyang Key Laboratory (No. 2018KJ110), and Research Study and Innovation Experiment Program for University Students (No.477).

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  1. College of Public Health, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, People’s Republic of China

    Jin-Hua Xue, Ling Liu, Yong-Sheng Wang, Jia-Qian Li, Mei Li, Yue-Ning Qu & Le Li

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  1. Jin-Hua Xue
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  2. Ling Liu
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Correspondence to Yong-Sheng Wang or Le Li.

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The studies were approved by the Ethical Commission of the University of South China and were performed in accordance with ethical standards.

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Jin-Hua Xue and Ling Liu are the Co-first authors.

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Xue, JH., Liu, L., Wang, YS. et al. Assay of 1-hydroxypyrene via aggregation-induced quenching of the fluorescence of protamine-modified gold nanoclusters and 9-hydroxyphenanthrene-based sensitization. Microchim Acta 186, 700 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-019-3810-1

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