Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Carbon Dots For Specific “Off-On” Sensing Of Co2+ And Edta For In Vivo Bioimaging, Xiangping Wen, Guangming Wen, Wenyan Li, Zhonghua Zhao, Xine Duan, Wenjun Yan, John F. Trant, Yingqi Li

Chemistry and Biochemistry Publications

Fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) were hydrothermally synthesized from a mixture of frozen tofu, ethylenediamine and phosphoric acid in an efficient 64% yield. The resulting CDs exhibit good water solubility, low cytotoxicity, high stability, and excellent biocompatibility. The CDs selectively and sensitively detect Co2+ through fluorescent quenching with a detection limit of 58 nM. Fluorescence can be restored through the introduction of EDTA, and this phenomenon can be used to quantify EDTA in solution with a detection limit of 98 nM. As both analytes are detected by the same CD platform, this is an “off-on” fluorescence sensor for Co2+ and EDTA. …