p -Aminothiophenol-coated CdSe/ZnS quantum dots as a turn-on fluorescent probe for pH detection in aqueous media

A facile fluorescent sensor based on nitrogen-doped carbon dots derived from Listeria monocytogenes for highly selective and visual detection of iodide and pH

Listeria monocytogenes-derived nitrogen-doped carbon dots served as a facile fluorescent sensor with excellent sensing performances for iodide with low detection limit of 20 nmol L−1 and wide pH range from 1.81 to 11.82.

Quaternary Alloy Quantum Dots as Fluorescence Probes for Total Acidity Detection of Paper-Based Relics

Traditionally, the acidity of paper-based relics was determined by an extraction method and using a pH meter. This method could not obtain the total acidity of the paper-based relics because it only detected the concentration of free protons in the aqueous soaking solution. To overcome this defect, a new method for determining the total acidity of paper-based relics has been established by using quaternary alloy quantum dots. The quantum dots, CdZnSeS, modified by p-Aminothiophenol (pATP) were prepared, and their composition and structure were characterized. The fluorescence behavior of prepared quantum dots with acidity was investigated. The following results were obtained. The fluorescence of CdZnSeS-pATP quantum dots could decrease with increases in acidity because pATP dissociated from the surfaces of the quantum dots due to protons or undissociated weak acids. Based on this feature, a method for determining the acidity of paper-based relics was constructed, and this method was used to evaluate the acidity of actual paper-based relics. Obviously, for a given paper sample, since both free protons and bound protons can be determined by this method, the acidity measured by this method is more reasonable than that by pH meter.

Optical Sensing and Imaging of pH Values: Spectroscopies, Materials, and Applications

This is the first comprehensive review on methods and materials for use in optical sensing of pH values and on applications of such sensors. The Review starts with an introduction that contains subsections on the definition of the pH value, a brief look back on optical methods for sensing of pH, on the effects of ionic strength on pH values and pKa values, on the selectivity, sensitivity, precision, dynamic ranges, and temperature dependence of such sensors. Commonly used optical sensing schemes are covered in a next main chapter, with subsections on methods based on absorptiometry, reflectometry, luminescence, refractive index, surface plasmon resonance, photonic crystals, turbidity, mechanical displacement, interferometry, and solvatochromism. This is followed by sections on absorptiometric and luminescent molecular probes for use pH in sensors. Further large sections cover polymeric hosts and supports, and methods for immobilization of indicator dyes. Further and more specific sections summarize the state of the art in materials with dual functionality (indicator and host), nanomaterials, sensors based on upconversion and 2-photon absorption, multiparameter sensors, imaging, and sensors for extreme pH values. A chapter on the many sensing formats has subsections on planar, fiber optic, evanescent wave, refractive index, surface plasmon resonance and holography based sensor designs, and on distributed sensing. Another section summarizes selected applications in areas, such as medicine, biology, oceanography, bioprocess monitoring, corrosion studies, on the use of pH sensors as transducers in biosensors and chemical sensors, and their integration into flow-injection analyzers, microfluidic devices, and lab-on-a-chip systems. An extra section is devoted to current challenges, with subsections on challenges of general nature and those of specific nature. A concluding section gives an outlook on potential future trends and perspectives.

A novel algorithm for second-order calibration of three-way data in fluorescence assays of multiple breast cancer-related DNAs

Fluorescent probes have been valuable tools for bioanalytical multiplex assays. However, as a common phenomenon in multiplex fluorescence assays, spectral overlap usually leads to difficulty in spectral analysis for multiple analytes. Although multiway calibrations have provided mathematic approaches for complex spectral analysis, it remains a grand challenge for these methods in practical applications because of the problems such as prior rank estimation. Herein, we report a novel second-order calibration algorithm of alternating residual trilinearization (ART) for the decomposition of complex spectra generated from multiplex fluorescence assays. By alternating iterative convergence to the spectral profiles of each component in convergence process, ART enables automatic rank estimation for second-order calibration, thus able to avoid the risk of chemical meaningless fitting of component spectra. Combined with fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy, the performance of ART has been demonstrated by a simulated example and an analytical experiment performed using molecular beacons (MBs) for the simultaneous assay of three breast cancer related DNA targets. The results revealed that the proposed algorithm is capable of automatic estimating the number of underlying components during its convergence process to produce acceptable performance in spectral profile resolution and concentration estimation. Compared with other existing iterative trilinear decomposition strategies such as parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) requiring a prior rank estimation, the proposed ART therefore provides a robust second-order calibration strategy for complex spectral analysis in multiplex fluorescence assays.

Two-photon semiconducting polymer nanoparticles as a new platform for imaging of intracellular pH variation

Intracellular pH (pHi) plays a crucial role in cell physiological and pathological processes. We herein report an efficient pH-sensitive sensor based on two-photon excitable semiconducting polymer nanoparticles (PFV/PSMA-DA NPs) for pHi sensing. PFV/PSMA NPs were functionalized with redox-active dopamine (DA) and the obtained PFV/PSMA-DA NPs showed sensitive and reversible pH response over the pH range of 5.0-9.0. Owning to the high biocompatibility and pH-responsive DA, PFV/PSMA-DA NPs show low cytotoxicity and the quantification and imaging of intracellular pH changes of HeLa cells were successfully realized. Moreover, the detection of intracellular pH fluctuation induced by redox species such as NAC (N-acetylcysteine) and H₂O₂ was also achieved by both one- and two-photon excitation of the PFV/PSMA-DA NPs probe. This work clearly shows that nanoprobe based on two-photon PFV/PSMA-DA NPs could serve as a promising platform for quantitatively monitoring the intracellular pH fluctuations.

para-Hydroxy Thiophenol-Coated CdSe/ZnS Quantum Dots as a Turn-On Fluorescent Probe for H2O2 Detection in Aqueous Media

Since hydrogen peroxide plays an important role in various fields, a facile, simple, highly selective, and stable analytic method for H2O2 is desirable. Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have acted as a potential alternative for organic fluorophores in fluorescence analytical fields due to their superior optical properties. Herein, we report hydrophilic p-hydroxy thiophenol (p-HTP) coated CdSe/ZnS QDs (denoted as p-HTP-QDs) acting as a selective fluorescence ‘turn-on’ probe for H2O2 in aqueous media. The obtained p-HTP-QD probe exhibits weak fluorescence, which stems from hole transfer from the QDs to p-HTP. The presence of H2O2 induces an oxidative structural transformation of p-HTP in p-HTP-QDs from a phenol structure to an α-hydroxy ketone derivative, which extremely reduces the driving force for hole transfer. Thus, the QDs photoluminescence (PL) was re-switched on. Under optimized conditions, an excellent linear relationship between fluorescence response and H2O2 concentration could be produced with a linear range from 0.309 to 4.900mM. The limit of detection of this probe was found to be 0.135mM. Moreover, the present probe exhibited a high selectivity of H2O2 over other reactive oxygen species/reactive nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) and was successfully used in the detection of H2O2 in real water samples.

BSA capped bi-functional fluorescent Cu nanoclusters as pH sensor and selective detection of dopamine

Illustration of the preparation of bi-functional BSA-CuNCs, the pH sensing and the detection of dopamine (DA).