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Fluorescent polydopamine based molecularly imprinted sensor for ultrafast and selective detection of p-nitrophenol in drinking water

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Abstract

A highly effective fluorescent molecularly imprinted sensor (F-PDA-MIS) based on fluorescent polydopamine (F-PDA) was successfully synthesized for selective and ultrafast detection of p-nitrophenol (P-NP) in drinking water. F-PDA with abundant surface functional groups has been artfully modified to firstly serve as both fluorescent monomer and functional monomer in the synthesis of a uniform luminous F-PDA-MIS, which can greatly improve the detection efficiency. As expected, F-PDA-MIS had an obvious emission wavelength of 535 nm with the optimal excitation wavelength at 400 nm. Specially, F-PDA-MIS could detect P-NP in the range 100 to 1100 nM with much lower detection limit of 24.2 nM within 120 s compared with other conventional imprinted fluorescent sensors based on pure quantum dots (QDs) or dyes. This excellent test phenomenon is mainly ascribed to the rapid electron transfer between F-PDA and P-NP. Satisfactory recovery of 98.0–104% for mineral water and 98.6–106% for boiling water were obtained with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 2.7–3.4% and 2.6–3.5% respectively. The detection reliability of F-PDA-MIS was verified by the comparison with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC–UV). Consequently, F-PDA as a fluorescence functional monomer has been shown to be a possible strategy to effectively improve the detection limit and shorten response time of the target determination in water..

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21808089, 51803080), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2019M661750, 2019T120400), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20190245), Major projects of education department of Jiangsu province (No. 17KJA530003), and Programs of Senior Talent Foundation of Jiangsu University (No. 15JDG024).

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  1. Institute of Green Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Advanced Chemical Engineering Laboratory of Green Materials and Energy of Jiangsu Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China

    Yeqing Xu, Ting Huang, Minjia Meng & Yongsheng Yan

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Correspondence to Minjia Meng or Yongsheng Yan.

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604_2021_5106_MOESM1_ESM.docx

Supplementary file1 The experiments of synthesis optimization of F-PDA, performance analysis of FPDAand demonstration experiment of F-PDA to replace conventional functionalmonomer. Images of synthesis optimization of F-PDA, fluorescence independence ofF-PDA, performance analysis of F-PDA, fluorescence intensities of F-PDA in a month,Thermogravimetric analysis of F-PDA-MIS and F-PDA-NIS, fluorescence quenchingmechanism analysis, proof experiment of F-PDA as a fluorescence functional monomerand comparison of reaction time to other fluorescent probes, the HPLC-UV detectionresults of P-NP concentration in mineral water and boiling water and comparison ofMISs in the terms of response time and detection limit. (DOCX 1473 KB)

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Xu, Y., Huang, T., Meng, M. et al. Fluorescent polydopamine based molecularly imprinted sensor for ultrafast and selective detection of p-nitrophenol in drinking water. Microchim Acta 189, 25 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-021-05106-3

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