A novel immobilization fluorescence capillary analysis method and its applications

Sensitive and selective detection of p-nitroaniline with the assistance of a fluorescence capillary imprinted sensor

A fluorescence capillary imprinted sensor was first prepared with high selectivity and sensitivity for the detection of p-nitroaniline. The fluorescence imprinted polymer prepared by the sol-gel method using blue CdTe quantum dots as the fluorescence source was self-sucked into an activated capillary to form the fluorescence imprinted capillary (CdTe@FMIP-CA) sensor. The specificity and selectivity tests showed that the CdTe@FMIP-CA sensor has a high selective recognition ability toward p-nitroaniline. The CdTe@FMIP-CA sensor can quickly and specifically recognize p-nitroaniline within 2 min with a high specific fluorescence response efficiency. The fluorescence intensity of the CdTe@FMIP-CA sensor remained stable within 60 min. A good linear relationship was established between the fluorescence quenching efficiency of the CdTe@FMIP-CA sensor with a p-nitroaniline concentration range of 0.2-100 μmol L-1 with the detection limit of 4.6 nmol L-1 and the quantitation limit of 0.2 μmol L-1. The imprinting factor was calculated as 3.88. The method has been successfully applied for the determination of trace p-nitroaniline in lake water, tap water, urine, and serum samples. The CdTe@FMIP-CA sensor realized the sensitive and selective detection of p-nitroaniline with the lower consumption of microvolume reagent (18 μL per time), which provided a novel strategy for highly sensitive analysis of microvolume trace pollutants.

On-line monitoring of a recirculating-flow fluorescent capillary system for exploring the interaction mechanism of carbon dots/metal ions

The interaction mechanism between carbon dots (CDs) and metal ions is essential for optimizing their design, synthesis, and application. However, it must be accurately distinguished and quantified because of CDs' complex structure, composition, and coexisting various response mechanisms or products. Herein, a recirculating-flow fluorescence capillary analysis (RF-FCA) system was developed to online monitor the fluorescence kinetics of CDs interacting with metal ions. The fluorescence kinetics of purification and dissociation of CDs/metal ion complexes were easy to monitor online by integrating immobilized CDs and RF-FCA. Here, CDs derived from citric acid and ethylenediamine were used as a model system. We found that the fluorescence of CDs is quenched by Cu(II) and Hg(II) only through the formation of a coordination complex, by Cr(VI) only through the inner filtering effect, and by Fe(III) through the above two mechanisms. Then the kinetics of the competitive interaction between metal ions were used to address the difference of binding sites on CDs with metal ions, wherein Hg(II) was bound to other sites of CDs besides the same sites of CDs with Fe(III) and Cu(II). Finally, from the fluorescence kinetics of fluorescent molecules in the CD structure with metal ions, the difference was due to the presence of two fluorescent centers in the carbon core and molecular state in the CDs. Therefore, the RF-FCA system can distinguish and quantify the interaction mechanism between metal ions and CDs effectively and accurately and be a potential detection or performance characterization method.

Capillary-based fluorescence microsensor with polyoxometalates as nanozyme for rapid and ultrasensitive detection of artemisinin

A novel capillary-based fluorescence microsensor for artemisinin was developed with functional polyoxometalates (POMs) as nanozyme by a layer-by-layer self-assembly strategy. Vanadomolybdophosphoric heteropoly acid (H₅PMo₁₀V₂O₄₀, PMoV₂) and tungstophosphoric heteropoly acid (Na₅PW₁₁O₃₉Cu, PW₁₁Cu) with high peroxidase-like activity were synthesized and immobilized on capillary to catalyze artemisinin/thiamine reaction and generate the amplified fluorescence signal. The wide linear range up to 13.0 μM with the low limit of detection of 0.03 μM (S/N = 3) was achieved for the determination of artemisinin by using the proposed POMs-microsensor. The method has been successfully used to detect artemisinin in human plasma and antimalarial drugs with satisfactory accuracy. This work developed a novel capillary fluorescence microsensor with functional POMs as nanozyme, which can serve as a promising candidate in fluorescence microanalysis.