Aggregation enhanced FRET: A simple but efficient strategy for the ratiometric detection of uranyl ion

Dan Wang; Li-Jie Zhang; Ming-Hui Liu; Fang-Fang Du; Ze-Ya Shen; Longwei He; Li-Li Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131497

Aggregation enhanced FRET: A simple but efficient strategy for the ratiometric detection of uranyl ion

J Hazard Mater. 2023 Jul 15:454:131497. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131497. Epub 2023 Apr 25.

Authors

Dan Wang¹, Li-Jie Zhang², Ming-Hui Liu¹, Fang-Fang Du¹, Ze-Ya Shen¹, Longwei He³, Li-Li Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Hunan Province Cooperative Innovation Center for Molecular Target New Drug Study, School of Pharmaceutical Science, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China.
² Department of Urology, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, China.
³ Hunan Province Cooperative Innovation Center for Molecular Target New Drug Study, School of Pharmaceutical Science, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China. Electronic address: helongwei0110@163.com.
⁴ Hunan Province Cooperative Innovation Center for Molecular Target New Drug Study, School of Pharmaceutical Science, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China. Electronic address: wangll@usc.edu.cn.

PMID: 37119574
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131497

Abstract

Uranium is one of the most important radionuclides but could also cause potential health risks to human beings due to its radioactive and chemical toxicity. It is an urgent task to develop a simple but efficient sensing platform for UO₂²⁺, the main existing form of uranium in environment. Herein, a rhodamine-functionalized carbon dots (o-CDs-Rho) was synthesized and applied for UO₂²⁺ sensing through a simple but novel aggregation-enhanced FRET strategy. The weak FRET efficiency (16.2%) of o-CDs-Rho in dispersed solution is significantly enhanced (>77.2%) after UO₂²⁺ triggered aggregation due to the increased number of rhodamine acceptors around each CDs from dispersed 80 to aggregated 2800. This is the first ratiometric fluorescence sensor with an inverse change of fluorescence intensity at dual emission wavelengths under single-wavelength excitation for UO₂²⁺. Under optimized experiment conditions, o-CDs-Rho nanosensor shows a low detection limit of 53 nM and excellent selectivity. Meanwhile, the as-prepared nanosensor also shows high reliability and stability. These excellent properties make it successful in detecting uranium content in real samples.

Keywords: Aggregation enhanced FRET; Carbon dots; Ratiometric fluorescence; Uranyl ion.