A fluorescence nanoprobe of N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine capped CdTe QDs for sensitive detection of nitrofurazone

A method was established for detecting the content of nitrofurazone (NFZ) by fluorescence quenching of N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC) coated cadmium telluride quantum dots (CdTe QDs). By means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and multispectral methods such as fluorescence and ultraviolet visible spectra (UV–vis), the synthesized CdTe QDs were characterized. The quantum yield ( φ ) of CdTe QDs was measured as 0.33 by reference method. The CdTe QDs had a better stability, the RSD of fluorescence intensity was 1.51% in three months. NFZ quenching the emission light of CdTe QDs was observed. The analyses of Stern-Volmer and time-resolved fluorescence suggested the quenching was static. The binding constants ( K a ) between NFZ and CdTe QDs were 1.14 × 10 4 (293 K), 0.74 × 10 4 (303 K) and 0.51 × 10 4 (313 K) L mol −1 . The hydrogen bond or van der Waals force was the dominated binding force between NFZ and CdTe QDs. The interaction was further characterized by UV–vis absorption as well as Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR). Using fluorescence quenching effect, a quantitative determination of NFZ was carried out. The optimal experimental conditions were studied and determined as following: pH was 7 and contact time was 10 min. The effects of reagent addition sequence, temperature and the foreign substances including some metals (Mg 2+ ; Zn 2+ ; Ca 2+ ; K + ; Cu 2+ ), glucose, bovine serum albumin (BSA) and furazolidone on the determination were studied. There was a high correlation between the concentration of NFZ (0.40 – 39.63 μg mL −1 ) and F 0 / F with the standard curve F 0 / F  = 0.0262 c  + 0.9910 ( r  = 0.9994). The detection limit (LOD) reached 0.04 μg mL −1 (3 S 0 / S ). The contents of NFZ in beef and bacteriostatic liquid were detected. The recovery of NFZ was 95.13% – 103.03% and RSD was 0.66% – 1.37% ( n  = 5).