A fluorescent nanoprobe based on N/S co-doped carbon dots coupled with molecularly imprinted polymers for the detection of curcumin

Abstract

Curcumin can be used to treat cancer diseases, however the side effects of excessive use are serious, and the dosage of curcumin should be accurately controlled. In this study, a fluorescence nanosensor using carbon quantum dots (N,S-CQD) embedded multifunctional molecularly imprinted polymer (N,S-CQD@MIP) composite was developed as a probe for the detection of curcumin. The N,S-CQD@MIP was synthesized by sol-gel method and found a maximum emission peak at 430 nm. The curcumin can be binded selectively by the specific interaction between recognition sites and template molecules. The corresponding sensing mechanism of N,S-CQD@MIP for the detection of curcumin is the result of fluorescence inner filter effect and the static quenching effect. The fluorescence nanosensor using N,S-CQD@MIP for the curcumin detection has a good linear relationship in the range of 0.339–136.0 μM, and the corresponding detection limit is as low as 1.357 nM. This method has been applied to detect the curcumin in real samples with the recoveries of 97.6–103.7%. These results indicate that N,S-CQD@MIP are potential sensing materials for curcumin detection.