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Highly fluorescent carbon dots as nanoprobes for sensitive and selective determination of 4-nitrophenol in surface waters

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Abstract

We report on the synthesis of carbon dots (C-dots) by thermal carbonization of a mixture of ethyleneglycol bis-(2-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N’,N’-tetraacetic acid (EGTA) and tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris). The resulting C-dots were characterized by X-ray diffraction, proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance, FTIR and fluorescence spectroscopy, and high-resolution TEM. The data reveal that the C-dots are mainly capped with hydroxy and carbonyl groups and are highly fluorescent with an emission peak that shifts from 427 to 438 nm if the excitation wavelength is increased from 310 to 360–370 nm. Fluorescence is quenched by 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), and this effect was exploited to design a simple and rapid protocol for the determination of 4-NP. The detection limit is 28 nM and the linear range extends from 0.1 to 50 μM. The method was successfully applied to the determination of 4-NP in spiked river and sea waters.

Contact quenching produced through the formation of a Meisenheimer complex with negative charge delocalized over the cyclohexadienine ring and the nitro group and positive charge distributed over an iminium group.

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Acknowledgments

Authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Science and Innovation Spanish Ministry (Proj # MAT2012-099). Also, G.H.Gaber Ahmed thanks an Erasmus Mundus Medastar grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Damanhur University, Damanhur, Egypt

    Gaber Hashem Gaber Ahmed

  2. Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Oviedo, c/Julián Clavería s/n, Oviedo, 33006, Spain

    Rosana Badía Laíño, Josefa Angela García Calzón & Marta Elena Díaz García

Authors
  1. Gaber Hashem Gaber Ahmed
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  2. Rosana Badía Laíño
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  3. Josefa Angela García Calzón
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  4. Marta Elena Díaz García
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marta Elena Díaz García.

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Ahmed, G.H.G., Laíño, R.B., Calzón, J.A.G. et al. Highly fluorescent carbon dots as nanoprobes for sensitive and selective determination of 4-nitrophenol in surface waters. Microchim Acta 182, 51–59 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-014-1302-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-014-1302-x

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