Synthesis of Yellow Fluorescence Carbon Dots for the Applications of Vitamin B12 Detection and Cell Imaging

Abstract

In this work, bright yellow fluorescent and multifunctional carbon dots (N-CDs) were prepared by hydrothermal method from O-phenylenediamine and 4-aminobenzoic acid. The fluorescence characterization showed that the N-CDs possessed good optical properties (QY = 32%) and excitation dependent multi-color emission. By exciting with 390 nm, the strong selective interaction of VB₁₂ with N-CDs could result in a sharp decrease in the luminescence of N-CDs at 567 nm. An efficient fluorescence sensor in aqueous solution was constructed which could linearly respond VB₁₂ in wide concentration ranges of 0-90 μM and 140-250 μM. The linear correlation coefficients of N-CDs and VB₁₂ were 0.9950 and 0.9968, respectively, and the detection limit was 0.119 μM. N-CDs were performed for sensitive determination of VB₁₂ in real samples. Moreover, the N-CDs were exploited to image cell. This N-CDs was a sensitive fluorescence probe to monitor VB₁₂ and presented prospective potential in living cells imaging. Schematic diagram of the synthesis process and application research of N-CDs.

Keywords: Cell imaging; Fluorescence; Sense; Vitamin B12; Yellow carbon dots.