Yellow-emission and pH-responsive carbon dots employed for “turn-off” and “turn-off-on” assaying adenosine triphosphate and kanamycin

Abstract In this study, a simple and moderate strategy for the determination of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and kanamycin (Kana) has been established, which was achieved by employing the yellow-fluorescence carbon dots derived from cholesterol and o-phenylenediamine (CDs@Chol) through one-pot hydrothermal treatment. Meanwhile, CDs@Chol were equipped with the functional groups of -C C-, -OH, -NH2 and -C O, providing the opportunity of interacting with the potential targets. Significantly, the fluorescence of CDs@Chol was quenched by introducing ATP and further recovered by Kana, and the “turn-off” and “turn-off-on” sensing platform were accordingly built for detecting ATP and Kana with a generally acceptable reliability. To be specific, the “turn-off” mode was applied to detect ATP with a detection limit of 93 nM based on photoinduced electron transfer (PET), and the assay of “turn-off-on” was raised to determine Kana (LOD of 7.2 μM) by virtue of the hydrogen bonds forming, which may broaden the avenues of sensing both ATP and Kana.