A turn-on fluorescent probe for vitamin C based on the use of a silicon/CoOOH nanoparticle system

Abstract

The authors describe a fluorometric method for the turn-on determination of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). The blue fluorescence of silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs; with excitation/emission maxima at 350/450nm) is found to be quenched by CoOOH nanoparticles (NPs). In the presence of vitamin C, the CoOOH NPs are decomposed by a redox reaction between the diol group of vitamin C and CoOOH NPs. As a result, fluorescence recovers. On the basis of this finding, a fluorometric method was designed for the turn-on detection of vitamin C. Under optimal conditions, the method has a low detection limit (0.47μM) and a linear response in the 0.5μM to 20μM a concentration range. It was successfully applied to the determination of vitamin C in spiked red grape and orange juice, and in vitamin C tablets. Graphical abstract A target-triggered dissociation of quencher-based strategy for the fluorescence "turn-on" detection of vitamin C was developed. It is based on surfaceenergy transfer (SET) and an inner filter effect (IFE) between silicon nanoparticles and CoOOH nanoparticles as well as the redox reaction between vitamin C and CoOOH nanoparticles.