Antibiotics have been overused in recent years because of their remarkable curative effect, but this has led to considerable environmental pollution. Therefore, the development of approaches aimed at the effective detection and control of the antibiotics is vital for protecting the environment and human health. Many conventional strategies (such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS)) are currently in use for the detection of antibiotics. These strategies have aroused a great deal of interest because of their outstanding features of high efficiency and speed, good reproducibility, automation, etc. However, various problems such as tedious sample pretreatment, low detection sensitivity, and high cost must be overcome for the effective detection of antibiotics in environmental samples. Consequently, it is of great significance to improve the detection sensitivity of antibiotics. The development of new materials combined with the existing detection technology has great potential to improve the detection results for antibiotics. Carbon dots (CDs) are a new class of nanomaterials with particle sizes in the range of 0-10 nm. In addition, CDs have desirable properties such as small particle effect, excellent electrical properties, unique optical properties, and good biocompatibility. Hence, they have been widely utilized for the detection of antibiotics in environmental samples. In this review, the application of CDs combined with sensors and chromatographic technology for the detection of antibiotics in the last five years are summarized. The development prospects of CD-based materials and their application to the analysis and detection of antibiotics are presented. In this review, many new sensors (CDs combined with molecularly imprinted polymer sensors, aptamer sensors, electrochemiluminescence sensors, fluorescence sensors, and electrochemical sensors) combined with CD-based materials and their use in the detection of antibiotics are summarized. Furthermore, advanced analysis methods such as ratiometric sensor and array sensor methods are reviewed. The novel analysis methods provide a new direction toward the detection of antibiotics by CDs combined with a sensor. Moreover, CD-based chromatographic stationary phases for the separation of antibiotics are also summarized in this manuscript. It is reported that the detection sensitivity for antibiotics can be greatly improved by the combination of CDs and a sensor. Nevertheless, a literature survey reveals that the detection of antibiotics in complex environmental samples is confronted with numerous challenges, including the fabrication of highly sensitive sensors in combination with CDs. Furthermore, the development of novel high-performance materials is of imperative. In addition, it is important to develop new methods for effective data processing. The separation of antibiotics with CDs as the chromatographic stationary phases is in the preliminary stage, and the separation mechanism remains to be clarified. In conclusion, there are still many problems to be overcome when using CDs as novel materials for the detection of antibiotics in environmental samples. Nowadays, CD-based materials are being intensively studied, and various analytical detection technologies are being rapidly developed. In the future, CD-based materials are expected to play an important role in the detection of antibiotics and other environmental pollutants.
抗生素的过度使用对环境造成了极大破坏,对其进行监测控制刻不容缓。常用的分析检测技术,如高效液相色谱(HPLC)、气相色谱(GC)、高效液相色谱-串联质谱(HPLC-MS/MS)等具有高效快速、重现性好、可自动化操作等优点。但对环境样品中抗生素的检测存在样品前处理过程繁琐、检测灵敏度低、实验成本高等问题。结合现有的检测技术发展新型材料,对提高抗生素的检测灵敏度具有重要意义。碳点(CDs)是一种尺寸介于0~10 nm之间的新型纳米材料,具有小尺寸效应、优异的电学和光学性质、良好的生物相容性等优点,已被广泛应用于环境样品中抗生素的检测。该综述对近5年CDs与传感器、色谱分析技术结合检测抗生素的应用进行了总结,并对其发展前景进行了展望。该文总结了CDs与分子印迹传感器、适配体传感器、电化学发光传感器、荧光传感器及电化学传感器相结合,及其在抗生素检测中的应用;对涉及的比率型传感器、阵列传感器等先进分析方法进行了举例评述;对CDs作为色谱固定相分离抗生素进行了阐述。文献表明,CDs结合传感器检测抗生素可有效提高检测灵敏度,但对复杂环境样品中抗生素的检测还面临着构建高选择性传感器、开发新型材料及数据处理等方面的挑战;目前,CDs作为色谱固定相对抗生素的材料分离,仍处于初步研究阶段,分离机理尚不明确,有待进一步深入研究。总之,CDs在环境样品中抗生素的检测方面仍面临一系列问题,随着人们对CDs的深入研究以及各种分析检测技术的不断发展,CDs将会在抗生素等环境污染物的检测中发挥重要作用。
Keywords: antibiotics; carbon dots (CDs); chromatography analysis; review; sensor analysis.