Selective Sensing of Epinephrine by Phenylboronic Acid Tethered Carbon Dot

• Published in: Chemistry, an Asian journal Vol. 18; no. 15; pp. e202300415 - n/a
• Main Authors: Pal, Sudeshna, Jana, Madhurima, Chowdhury, Monalisa, Kumar Das, Prasanta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.08.2023
• Subjects: 4-carboxyphenylboronic acid; Biomolecules; Boronate diol; Boronic Acids - chemistry; Carbon - chemistry; Carbon Dot; Carbon dots; Chemistry; Epinephrine; Glucose; Hydrogen bonding; Norepinephrine; Sensing; Carbon Dot; Epinephrine; Sensing; 4-carboxyphenylboronic acid; Boronate diol
• ISSN: 1861-4728; 1861-471X
• DOI: 10.1002/asia.202300415

The present work depicts development of phenylboronic acid (PBA) derived and appended carbon dots (CD1‐PBAs) to detect epinephrine with high sensitivity and selectivity against structurally analogous biomolecules like norepinephrine, L‐Dopa and glucose. Carbon dots were synthesized by hydrothermal method. Microscopic and spectroscopic studies ensured the suitability of CD1‐PBAs for diol sensing. Catecholic‐OH groups of epinephrine primarily form covalent adduct with CD1‐PBAs via boronate‐diol linkage that caused change in absorption intensity of CD1‐PBAs. The limit of detection (LOD) for epinephrine was found to be 2.0 nM. For other analogous biomolecules, formation of boronate‐diol linkage might have got retarded by the dominant participation of secondary interactions like hydrogen bonding owing to the presence of varying functional moieties. Subsequently, responsiveness in the change in absorbance intensity of CD1‐PBAs was weaker compared to that for epinephrine. Hence, a selective and efficient carbon dot (CD1‐PBAs) based epinephrine sensor was developed simply by utilizing boronate‐diol linkage. Phenylboronic acid appended carbon dot (CD1‐PBAs) has been developed by attaching 4‐carboxyphenylboronic acid on the surface of amine functionalized carbon dot (CD1). CD1‐PBAs was utilized to sense 1,2‐diol moiety containing biomolecules (epinephrine, glucose, norepinephrine and L‐Dopa) through boronate‐diol adduct formation. The varying ability of adduct formation with CD1‐PBAs by biomolecules led to different degree of change in the absorbance of carbon dot, that was used for selective detection of epinephrine.