Issue 6, 2019

Facile synthesis of boronic acid-decorated carbon nanodots as optical nanoprobes for glycoprotein sensing

Abstract

In this article, we proposed new nitrogen-doped boronic acid-decorated carbon nanodots (CNDs) for the recognition and detection of glycoproteins. These doped, decorated CNDs were obtained by a one-step hydrothermal carbonization method using phenylboronic acid and ethylenediamine as precursors. Compared to traditional synthesized and then functionalized nanoscale sensing systems, this method is more facile and efficient. The as-prepared nitrogen-doped CNDs possessed a quasi-spherical morphology and a high quantum yield of approximately 14.5%. The added glycoproteins (taking horseradish peroxidase as a model protein) can selectively induce the assembly and fluorescence quenching of CNDs through the formation of cyclic boronate esters, because the boronic acid groups on the CND surfaces can covalently interact with cis-diol-containing glycoproteins. These fluorescence responses can be used to properly quantify horseradish peroxidase in the range of 3.3–333.3 μg mL−1 with a detection limit of 0.52 μg mL−1, and the selectivity assay with functionalized CNDs was further investigated using various proteins with different quantities of glycosylation sites as well as using smaller molecules. The results show that the nanosensing system possesses favorable selectivity. Due to its simplicity and effectiveness, the system has great application prospects as a practical platform for glycoprotein sensing.

Graphical abstract: Facile synthesis of boronic acid-decorated carbon nanodots as optical nanoprobes for glycoprotein sensing

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Nov 2018
Accepted
19 Jan 2019
First published
23 Jan 2019

Analyst, 2019,144, 1975-1981

Facile synthesis of boronic acid-decorated carbon nanodots as optical nanoprobes for glycoprotein sensing

X. Zhang, L. Chai, S. Nie, C. Lv, Q. Wang and Z. Li, Analyst, 2019, 144, 1975 DOI: 10.1039/C8AN02192A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements