基于氮掺杂荧光碳量子点的食品金属铜污染均相快速检测

N-Doped Carbon Dot-based Homogeneous Fluorescence Assay for the Rapid Detection of Copper Contamination in Food

摘要:

目前重金属铜的检测方法普遍存在操作繁琐、样品前处理复杂、消耗时间长和检测成本高等问题，限制了食品重金属铜污染的检测。该研究合成了一种铜离子（Cu2+）特异性响应的氮掺杂荧光碳量子点，实现了铜污染的均相快速检测，该碳量子点具有优异的水溶解度和生物相容性，其荧光量子产率为33.27%。该方法可以在一个离心管内、在室温环境下实现对Cu2+的高灵敏检测，检测动态范围是5~50 μmol/L，检出限为5.48 μmol/L，并已成功应用于水样中Cu2+的检测。该碳量子点有望成为食品铜污染的现场检测有效工具，具有农作物、水体及土壤中Cu2+检测的潜在应用价值，有助于食品铜污染的防控，此外，该方法具有高时效性、高准确性、高稳定性、低成本、低检测要求的特点，符合当前食品重金属安全监管的需求。

Abstract:

The current methods for the detection of copper contamination in foods are generally limited by problems such as cumbersome operation, complex sample pretreatment processes, time intensiveness, and high testing cost. Here, Cu2+-specific fluorescent N-doped carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized, and a homogeneous rapid detection of Cu2+ contamination was developed. The CDs showed high water solubility, excellent biocompatibility, and a fluorescence quantum yield of 33.27%. This method allowed for a high-sensitive detection of Cu2+ in a centrifuge tube at room temperature, with a dynamic detection range of 5~50 μmol/L and detection limit of 5.48 μmol/L. Moreover, this method was successfully applied in measuring Cu2+ in water samples. Thus, the CDs developed in this study may be an effective tool to detect copper contamination in foods and may be used in the detection of Cu2+ in crops, water and soil, contributing to the prevention and control of copper contamination in foods. In addition, the proposed detection method have several advantages such as good timeliness, high accuracy, high stability, low cost, and low detection requirements, which are in line with current requirements for the safety supervision of heavy metals in foods.