Metal ion-mediated carbon dot nanoprobe for fluorescent turn-on sensing of N-acetyl-l-cysteine

In this work, carbon dots (CDs) was easily synthesized from aspartic acid through a pyrolysis method. Based on their favourable fluorescence properties, CDs were utilized to design a metal ion-mediated fluorescent probe for N -acetyl- l -cysteine (NAC) detection. The fluorescence intensity of CDs was firstly quenched by manganese ions (Mn 2+ ) through static quenching effect and subsequently restored by NAC via the combination with Mn 2+ due to the coordination effect. Therefore, the fluorescent turn-on sensing of NAC was actuated based on the fluorescence quenching stimulated by Mn 2+ and recovery induced by coordination. The fluorescence recovery efficiencies showed a proportional range to the concentration of NAC in the range 0.04–5 mmol L −1 and the detection limit was 0.03 mmol L −1 . Furthermore, this metal ion-mediated fluorescent nanoprobe was applied to human urine sample detection and the standard recovery rates were located in the range 97.62–102.34%. This was the first time that Mn 2+ was used to construct a fluorescent nanoprobe for NAC. Compared with other heavy metal ions, Mn 2+ with good biosecurity prevented the risk of application, which made the nanoprobe green and biopractical. The facile synthesis of CDs and novel metal ion-mediated sensing mode made it a promising method for pharmaceutical analysis.