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Fluorescent Nitrogen-doped Carbon Dots-based Turn-off Sensor for Bilirubin

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Abstract

Bilirubin (BR), a heme protein produced from breakdown of haemoglobin is present in aged red blood cells; whose abnormal concentration is associated with diseases like hyperbilirubinemia, coronary disease, iron deficiency, and so on. Herein, we have synthesized a selective, sensitive, and low-cost sensing platform using fluorescent nitrogen doped carbon dots (NCDs), prepared from precursors; citric acid and urea via a simple microwave-assisted method. The emission at 444 nm on excitation with 360 nm was well quenched in presence of BR suggesting a direct turn-off detection for BR. Characterization of developed probe was done by UV-Visible absorption studies, photoluminescence studies, SEM, TEM, ATR-FTIR, XPS, and DLS analysis. BR was detected with a Limit of Detection (LoD) and Limit of Quantification (LoQ) of 0.32 µM and 1.08 µM respectively. NCDs exhibited excellent selectivity and sensitivity towards BR in the presence of co-existing biomolecules and ions. Practical feasibility was checked by paper-strip-based sensing of BR and spiked real human samples were used for conducting real sample analysis.

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Data made available on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are immensely thankful to the Head, Department of Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram for providing the laboratory and instrumental facilities. The authors acknowledge the CLIF, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram and International Inter University Centre for Sensing and Imaging (IIUCSI), Department of Chemistry, University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram. The authors also thankful to STIC, CUSAT, Kochi, India.

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No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram, 695581, Kerala, India

    Aswathy A. O & B. A Akhila

  2. Department of Chemistry, International Inter University Centre for Sensing and Imaging (IIUCSI), University of Kerala, Coordinator, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram, 695581, Kerala, India

    Sony George

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  1. Aswathy A. O
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study. The author 1 Aswathy A. O. conceived the idea of the work. Design, material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Aswathy (A) O. (author 1) and Akhila (B) A. (author 2). Supervision was done by author 3 Dr. Sony George. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Aswathy A. O. (author 1). All the authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sony George.

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The experiments were done following the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) ethical standards and were approved by the University level Human Ethical Committee order no (ULECRIHS/UOK/2019/48, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram). All the healthy volunteers who donated the blood samples were provided consent to participate and publish the result.

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O, A.A., Akhila, B.A. & George, S. Fluorescent Nitrogen-doped Carbon Dots-based Turn-off Sensor for Bilirubin. J Fluoresc (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-024-03771-0

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