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Rational design of a novel acryl-modified CQDs fluorescent probe for highly selective detection and imaging of cysteine in vitro and in vivo

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Abstract

A novel fluorescent nanoprobe CQDs-O-Acryl has been designed and synthesized to directly and accurately identify Cys over other biothiols in PBS (10 mM, pH 7.4) buffer. The carbon quantum dots (CQDs-OH) (λex/em maxima = 495/525 nm) were fabricated by a solvothermal method using resorcinol as the carbon source. The CQDs-O-Acryl was achieved through covalently grafting the acryloyl group on the surface of carbon quantum dots by nuclear reaction based on static quenching. The structure and morphology of CQDs-OH and CQDs-O-Acryl have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and UV–vis absorption spectroscopy. Upon the addition of Cys, the ester bond of CQDs-O-Acryl has been broken, and the free CQDs were released by conjugated addition and cyclization reactions successively, emitting strong green fluorescence at 525 nm (λex = 495 nm). Under the optimized conditions, CQDs-O-Acryl exhibited good sensing of Cys within the range 0.095–16 μM (the LOD of 0.095 μM). Due to the high sensitivity, reliability, fast fluorescence response (10 min), and low toxicity of CQDs-O-Acryl, it was successfully applied to fluorescence imaging of Cys in A549 cells and zebrafish.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program (XLYC2007140), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21405069), the Excellent Talents program of Liaoning Provincial Universities (LJQ2015068), and the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (201602339). The authors also thank our colleagues and other students for their participation in this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Pharmacy, Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, 121001, People’s Republic of China

    Jie Zhang, Ahmed Mohammed Ali Abdulkhaleq & Xibin Zhou

  2. College of Chemistry, Liaoning University, Shenyang, 110036, People’s Republic of China

    Jie Zhang & Jun Wang

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  1. Jie Zhang
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  2. Ahmed Mohammed Ali Abdulkhaleq
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  3. Jun Wang
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Correspondence to Jun Wang or Xibin Zhou.

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Zhang, J., Abdulkhaleq, A.M.A., Wang, J. et al. Rational design of a novel acryl-modified CQDs fluorescent probe for highly selective detection and imaging of cysteine in vitro and in vivo. Microchim Acta 190, 331 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-05919-4

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