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Concentration-dependent photoluminescence carbon dots for visual recognition and detection of three tetracyclines

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Abstract

Concentration-dependent photoluminescence carbon dots (CDs) have been successfully synthesized through the one-step hydrothermal treatment of o-phthalic acid and ethylenediamine. The CDs possessed higher fluorescence quantum yield, up to 39.22%, exhibiting distinguished optical property, water solubility, and stability. The CDs that emit strong blue-green fluorescence can visually identify and determine tetracycline (TC), oxytetracycline (OTC), and chlortetracycline (CTC). TC quenched the fluorescence of CDs at 500 nm owing to the inner filter effect; OTC behaved similarly, but the emission wavelength of CDs was red-shifted to 515 nm. Inversely, once CTC was introduced to CDs solution, the fluorescence increased and the emission peak was blue-shifted to 450 nm. Bandgap transition and electrostatic interaction were proposed to be the mechanisms for the detection of OTC and CTC by CDs. Wide linear relationships were established for TC, OTC, and CTC with the limits of detection to be 50 nM, 36 nM, and 373 nM, respectively. Furthermore, the nanoscale probe constructed by this system has been applied to detect tetracyclines (TCs) in complex samples with satisfying recoveries (93.2–114%) and was designed as a portable test strip sensor for visually on-site TCs of honey sample screening. Accordingly, the preparation process of the nano fluorescent probe is simple and environmentally friendly, and the probe has a specific recognition ability for tetracyclines. The synthesized CDs in this work provide a new orientation for fast, effective, and visual real-time detection of tetracycline in actual samples.

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Funding

We greatly acknowledge the financial support supplied from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21765014 and 21864018) and the Science and Technology Innovation Platform Project of Jiangxi Province (No. 20192BCD40001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, Jiangxi, China

    Ying Liu, Bowen Liu, Pengcheng Huang & Fang-Ying Wu

  2. Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Modern Analytical Science, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, Jiangxi, China

    Pengcheng Huang & Fang-Ying Wu

  3. College of Science and Engineering, University of Houston at Clear Lake, 2700 Bay Area Blvd, Houston, TX, 77058, USA

    Lihua Ma

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  1. Ying Liu
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  2. Bowen Liu
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  3. Pengcheng Huang
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Correspondence to Pengcheng Huang, Fang-Ying Wu or Lihua Ma.

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The study was approved by the ethics committee of Jiangxi Medical College, and their guidelines were followed in the whole study. The serum samples related to our research were collected from the patient. The urine samples involved in our research were from a healthy individual. Informed consent was obtained from all human participants.

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Liu, Y., Liu, B., Huang, P. et al. Concentration-dependent photoluminescence carbon dots for visual recognition and detection of three tetracyclines. Anal Bioanal Chem 413, 2565–2575 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03221-x

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