Label-free photoluminescence assay for nitrofurantoin detection in lake water samples using adenosine-stabilized copper nanoclusters as nanoprobes

In this paper, we constructed a novel label-free analytical strategy for highly sensitive and selective detection of nitrofurantoin (NFT) based on adenosine-stabilized copper nanoclusters (CuNCs) as nanoprobes. It was found that NFT caused a rapid decrease in the photoluminescence intensity of CuNCs. The photoluminescence quenching was likely attributed to the inner filter effect between NFT and CuNCs. The CuNCs exhibited a wide linear range of 0.05-4.0 mu M with the detection limit of 30 nM (7.1 ng mL(-1)) for detection of NFT. And it was successfully applied for NFT detection in lake water samples.