title: Highly fluorescent carbon dots as selective and sensitive "on-off-on" probes for iron(III) ion and apoferritin detection and imaging in living cells.
abstract: Highly blue luminescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) with a fluorescence quantum yield of 42.3% were prepared by an efficient one-step pyrolytic route from ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and urea. The as-synthesized N-CDs were demonstrated as an effective fluorescent probe for label-free, selective and sensitive recognition of Fe(3+) with a linear range of 0.5μM to 2mM and a detection limit of 13.6nM due to Fe(3+)-quenched fluorescence (turn-off). The quenched fluorescence could be turned on after the addition of apoferritin owing to the removal of ferric species from the surface of N-CDs by apoferritin, making complex N-CDs/Fe(3+) a selective apoferritin probe with a linear range of 0.1-25μM and a detection limit as low as 2.6nM. In addition, the application of this novel N-CDs-based probe for imaging Fe(3+) ions and apoferritin in living cells suggest that this sensing system has great potential applications in biosensing, bioimaging, and many other fields.
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Imaging, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China; Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China.
authors.forename: Cuiping
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Imaging, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China.
authors.forename: Ru
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Imaging, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China.
authors.forename: Keying
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Imaging, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China.
authors.forename: Huiting
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Imaging, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China.
authors.forename: Meirong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sui
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Imaging, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China; Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China.
authors.forename: Jingjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Imaging, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China; Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004, China. Electronic address: xkpaper@163.com.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D001052:Apoferritins / Q000032:analysis*; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002412:Cations / Q000032:analysis; D002460:Cell Line; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000032:analysis*; D057230:Limit of Detection; D061848:Optical Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D045663:Quantum Dots / Q000737:chemistry*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D002412:Cations; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D002244:Carbon; D001052:Apoferritins; D007501:Iron
keywords: Apoferritin; Carbon dots; Iron(III); On-off-on; Sensing