Doxorubicin (DOX) has been extensively used in cancer chemotherapy as an antibiotic drug, but when DOX concentration exceeds the threshold value, irreversible liver toxicity and cardiotoxicity can be triggered. Therefore, it is a significant theme to detect DOX concentration of patient blood and metabolites for the optimization of drug dosage. Linear correlation between fluorescence quenching of silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) and DOX concentration enables SiNPs to present good prospect to address this tricky issue. Inspired by these aspects, we put forward a novel method to synthesize dragonfruit-based SiNPs (DSiNPs) at room temperature, and leverage them in the fiber-optic sensing of urine DOX. Firstly, we investigate a simple and green synthesis method of DSiNPs emitting blue-green fluorescence through a one-step redox reaction at room temperature with organosilane as silicon source and fresh dragonfruit juice as reducing agent. Secondly, depending on optical characterization, we demonstrate mechanism of DSiNPs in the detection of DOX. Thirdly, a fiber-optic sensor is used to measure the fluorescence intensity of DSiNPs under diverse salt concentrations, pH values, and illumination time to explore the tolerance of DSiNPs. Fourthly, based on optimization of parameters and validation of specificity, we acquire linear response range of this method to DOX from 0 to 50 μM with detection limit of 3 μM. Finally, this method is leveraged in the detection of urine DOX, and obtained the recovery rates of 92.30 % and 107.30 %. This method holds excellent potential in the clinical analysis of anti-tumor drugs for the advantages of environmental friendliness and simple operation.
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