Abstract

MONTASERI, Hanieh; ADEGOKE, Oluwasesan  and  FORBES, Patricia B.C.. Development of a Thiol-capped Core/Shell Quantum Dot Sensor for Acetaminophen. S.Afr.j.chem. (Online) [online]. 2019, vol.72, pp.108-117. ISSN 1996-840X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/0379-4350/2019/v72a14.

Acetaminophen (AC) is a frequently used pharmaceutical which has been detected in water systems and is of concern due to its potential environmental impacts. In this study, three quantum dot (QD)-ligand systems, namely L-cysteine (L-cys)-, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC)- and glutathione (GSH)-capped CdSe/ZnS quantum dots, were synthesized and tested for the fluorescence detection of acetaminophen. Among the synthesized aqueous core/shell quantum dots, L-cys-CdSe/ZnS QDs were found to be optimal with high sensitivity for the fluorescence detection of acetaminophen. The L-cys-CdSe/ZnS QDs were of a zinc blende crystal structure and displayed excellent fluorescence intensity and photostability and provided a photoluminescence quantum yield of 77 % . The fluorescence of L-cys-CdSe/ZnS QDs was enhanced by the introduction of AC enabling the development of a fast and simple method for the detection of AC. Under optimal conditions, F-F₀ was linearly proportional to the concentration of AC from 3.0-100 nmol L^-1 with limits of detection and quantification of 1.6 and 5.3 nmol L^-1, respectively. Some related pharmaceutical compounds including epinephrine hydrochloride (EP), L-ascorbic acid (AA), uric acid (UA), dopamine hydrochloride (DA) and 4-aminophenol (4-AP) did not interfere with the sensing of AC. The probe was also successfully applied in the determination of AC in tap and river water matrices.

Keywords : Acetaminophen; FRET; pharmaceuticals; quantum dots; fluorescence spectroscopy.

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