The Sensitive “Turn-On” Fluorescence Platform of Ascorbic Acid Based on Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles

Abstract Ascorbic acid (AA) is very important for maintaining the normal physiological processes of the organism. In order to overcome the shortcomings of existing methods, such as lower sensitivity, complex operations and expensive instruments, it is urgent to develop a simple and rapid method for the determination of AA in the field of food and pharmaceutical preparations. Conjugated polymer nanoparticles (CPNs) have lately aroused wide concerns because of excellent optical properties, biocompatibility and stability. In our work, a CPNsPBOC-COOH fluorescence platform based on Poly [3-{2,5-bis (2-ethyl-hexyloxy)]-phenyl}-vinyl}-9-octyl-carbazole] (PBOC) and Polystyrene-maleic anhydride (PSMA), was prepared for the quantitative detection of AA. Experimental results were showed that this platform was highly selective and sensitive to AA. The concentration of AA detected by the fluorescence platform has a linear relationship in the range of 0.57∼17.10 μM. The limit of detection (LOD) is 10 nM, which is lower than other methods reported. More interestingly, the fluorescence of CPNsPBOC-COOH can be controlled by logic gates with Fe3+ and AA. Finally, the designed fluorescence platform has been successfully applied to the analysis of AA in actual samples (vitamin C tablets, mouse serum and plasma), indicating the designed platform with a good feasibility.