One-pot synthesis of carbon dots-embedded molecularly imprinted polymer for specific recognition of sterigmatocystin in grains.

A novel sensitive fluorescent sensor for determination of sterigmatocystin (ST), which was based on carbon dots-embedded molecularly imprinted polymer (CDs@MIP), was prepared by an efficient one-pot reaction. First, highly blue luminescent CDs were synthesized via a one-step reaction. Then, through a non-hydrolytic sol-gel process, MIP was formed on the CDs surface in the presence of 1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone as an alternative template molecule to obtain CDs@MIP. The CDs acted as antennas for signal amplification and optical readout, and the MIP coated on the CDs surface provided specific binding sites for ST. The performance of CDs@MIP was compared with that of CDs embedded in non-imprinted polymer (CDs@NIP). CDs@MIP exhibited high selectivity and sensitivity toward ST. Under optimized conditions, the relative fluorescence intensity of CDs@MIP decreased linearly with the concentration of ST from 0.05 to 2.0 mgL(-1) with a detection limit of 0.019 mgL(-1) (S/N=3) and the precision for five replicate detections of 0.10 mgL(-1) ST was 2.31%. The sensor was also used to determine the content of ST in grains with satisfactory results.