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A novel ratiometric fluorescence nanoprobe for sensitive determination of uric acid based on CD@ZIF-CuNC nanocomposites

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Abstract

A novel ratiometric fluorescence nanoprobe based on carbon dots (CDs) and Cu nanoclusters (CuNCs) was designed for the label-free determination of uric acid (UA). The metal-organic framework (MOF) encapsulated CuNCs (ZIF-CuNC), and nitrogen-doped CDs can self-assemble into well-defined spherical nanocomposites (CD@ZIF-CuNC) due to physical adsorption. Under the excitation wavelength of 360 nm, the CD@ZIF-CuNC nanocomposites exhibit two evident intrinsic emissions peaked at 460 nm (CDs) and 620 nm (ZIF-CuNC), respectively. In the presence of H2O2, the fluorescence of CD@ZIF-CuNC at 620 nm is quenched remarkably within 1 min, while little effect on the emission at 460 nm is observed. Therefore, taking the fluorescence at 620 nm as the report signal and 460 nm as the reference signal, ratiometric quantitative determination of H2O2 was achieved with a linear range of 1–100 μM and a detection limit of 0.30 μM. The CD@ZIF-CuNC nanoprobe was successfully applied to the determination of UA that is catalyzed by uricase to produce H2O2, obtaining the linear range of 1–30 μM and the detection limit of 0.33 μM. Eventually, this strategy has been successfully applied to the determination of UA in human urine samples.

Graphical abstract

A novel and convenient CDs@ZIF-CuNCs-based nanoplatform was constructed for sensitive ratiometric fluorescence determination of UA.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2020KB020), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21775089, 22074080), the Open Project of Chemistry Department of Qingdao University of Science and Technology (QUSTHX201926), and the Graduate Education Innovation Program of Qufu Normal University (CXJ1903).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, Shandong, 273165, People’s Republic of China

    Chunran Ma, Peihua Li, Lian Xia, Fengli Qu & Rong-Mei Kong

  2. Key Laboratory of Optic-electric Sensing and Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, MOE, Shandong Key Laboratory of Biochemical Analysis, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, Shandong, 266042, People’s Republic of China

    Zhi-Ling Song

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  1. Chunran Ma
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Ma, C., Li, P., Xia, L. et al. A novel ratiometric fluorescence nanoprobe for sensitive determination of uric acid based on CD@ZIF-CuNC nanocomposites. Microchim Acta 188, 259 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-021-04914-x

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