Ratiometric fluorescent detection of sulfide ions in Radix Codonopsis and living cells based on PVP-supported gold/copper nanoclusters with tunable dual emission

Herein, a novel fluorometric-sensor with dual-emission system was constructed on the basis of poly-vinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) co-functionalized gold/copper nanoclusters (PVP/ MBT-Au@CuNCs) by a facile and eco-friendly one-pot approach. The sensor exhibited ratiometric fluorescence emission (F590 nm/F422 nm) for visual and selective detection of S2-with a sensitive detection limit of 11.9 nM. Besides, fluorescence quenched sensing of S2-was chalked up by a quickly selectivity monitoring time of 30 s, owing to the strongly binding of Cu2S and Au2S by hard-soft-acid-base theory and the destruction of the aggregated structure of PVP/MBT-Au@CuNCs. Furthermore, the platform also provided the portable analysis for visual detection of S2-by capturing the change in fluorescence color with a single dual-emissive ratiometric paper strip. It is worth mentioning that the fluorescent gold-copper nanoclusters showed excellent application activities in the selective detection of S2-in Radix Codonopsis or Tremella samples and recognition of S2-in HeLa cells or macrophages by confocal microscopy fluorescent imaging. Overall, the sensing system paved a new avenue for effectively developing a convenient ratiometric fluorescent sensor platform for evaluating the safety of food with S2-pollution in environment and biological system.

Automated summary

In this study, a novel dual-emission fluorometric sensor was constructed for the visual and selective detection of S2- using poly-vinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) co-functionalized gold/copper nanoclusters. The sensor exhibited ratiometric fluorescence emission and had a sensitive detection limit. The fluorescent gold-copper nanoclusters also showed excellent application activities in selective detection and recognition.