ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

One-pot green synthesis of l-proline-stabilized copper nanoclusters for quercetin sensing

Zhifeng Cai, Ruitao Zhu, Caifeng Zhang, Erxiao Hao, Jie Zhao, and Tianqi Wu

Department of Chemistry, Taiyuan Normal University, Jinzhong, People’s Republic of China

E-mail: caizhifeng15@mails.ucas.ac.cn

Received: 4 February 2020  Accepted: 15 May 2020

Abstract:

Herein, a simple, green and low-cost method was established to synthesize l-proline-stabilized copper nanoclusters (l-Pro-Cu NCs) with good water solubility, excellent photostability and resistance to sodium chloride. A series of methods including fluorescence spectroscopy, UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the structure and optical performance of the Cu NCs. The as-prepared Cu NCs showed green fluorescence with the excitation wavelength of 373 nm. Under the optimal detection conditions, an excellent linear relationship was observed between relative fluorescence intensity (F₀/F) and the concentrations of quercetin ranging from 0.5 to 50 μM, and the detection limit (LOD) was 0.012 μM. Moreover, the proposed method provided an excellent platform for the detection of quercetin in the real samples.

Keywords: Copper nanoclusters; l-proline; Fluorescence; Quercetin

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-020-01199-x

Chemical Papers 74 (11) 3839–3846 (2020)