Author(s)

Yanan Zhai^1,2*, Meixian Huang^1,3*, Lingfeng Jiang^1,2#, Hailin Liao^2#

¹Graduate School, Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, China.
²Guangxi Scientific Research Centre of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, China.
³School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, China.

The development of a simple and accurate quantitative method for the determination of 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) is of great importance because of its serious side effects. Ratiometric fluorescence (RF) sensors are not subject to interference from environmental factors, and exhibit enhanced precision and accuracy. Therefore, a novel RF sensor for the selective detection of 6-MP was developed. The present work reports a sensitive and selective RF sensor for the detection of 6-mercaptopurine, by hybridizing carbon nanodots (CDots) and gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) capped with bovine serum albumin (BSA). The CDots serve as the reference signal and the AuNCs as the reporter. On addition of the 6-MP, AuNCs formed aggregates, because the existing cross-links within the AuNCs and BSA structure were broken in favour of the Au-S bonds, which can enhance the fluorescence of AuNCs, while the fluorescence of CDots is stable against 6-MP, leading to distinct ratiometric fluorescence changes when exposed to 6-MP. 6-MP could be detected in the range of 0 - 30.22 μM with a detection limit of 54 nM. The developed sensor was applied for the determination of 6-MP in human serum samples and satisfactory results were obtained.

Gold Nanoclusters, Carbon Dots, 6-Mercaptopurine, Ratiometric Fluorescent Sensor

Zhai, Y. , Huang, M. , Jiang, L. and Liao, H. (2021) Ratiometric Fluorescence Detection of 6-Mercaptopurine Based on the Nanohybrid of Fluorescence Carbon Dots and Gold Nanoclusters. Journal of Sensor Technology, 11, 39-53. doi: 10.4236/jst.2021.113003.