Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer-based Biosensor Composed of Nitrogen-doped Carbon Dots and Gold Nanoparticles for the Highly Sensitive Detection of Organophosphorus Pesticides

Anal Sci. 2016;32(9):951-6. doi: 10.2116/analsci.32.951.

Abstract

The present article reports a novel biosensor for organophosphorus pesticides based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NC-dots) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The effective NC-dots/AuNPs assembly through the Au-N interaction results in good fluorescence quenching. Active acetylcholinesterase (AChE) catalyzes the hydrolysis of acetylthiocholine into -SH containing thiocholine to replace the NC-dots and trigger the aggregation of AuNPs. In the presence of paraoxon, the activity of AChE is inhibited, and thus preventing the generation of thiocholine, causing fewer NC-dots to be replaced. As a consequence, the fluorescence intensity gradually decreases with increasing amount of paraoxon. This biosensor does not require any complex synthesis or modification, and the results show a wide detection range of from 10(-4) to 10(-9) g/L with a detection limit of 1.0 × 10(-9) g/L (3.6 × 10(-12) mol/L). Two linear response regions have been reported with a turning point at about 10(-6) g/L and three different factors that would influence the response behavior. These phenomena discussed in detail so as to explain the special response mechanism.

MeSH terms

  • Biosensing Techniques
  • Carbon / chemistry*
  • Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer / methods*
  • Fruit and Vegetable Juices / analysis
  • Gold / chemistry*
  • Limit of Detection
  • Malus / chemistry
  • Metal Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Nitrogen / chemistry*
  • Organophosphorus Compounds / analysis*
  • Organophosphorus Compounds / chemistry
  • Pesticides / analysis
  • Pesticides / chemistry
  • Quantum Dots / chemistry*

Substances

  • Organophosphorus Compounds
  • Pesticides
  • Carbon
  • Gold
  • Nitrogen