Fluorescent Determination of Ferric Ion in vitro with Carbon Quantum Dots Prepared by L-Arginine and Citric Acid

Abstract

Ferric ion (Fe³⁺) serves as an essential and indispensable inorganic element in various biological process. Excess Fe³⁺ is harmful for biological systems and human health. Herein, highly sensitive carbon quantum dots (Fe-CQDs) for ferric ions were synthesized by a high-efficiency, one-step hydrothermal route utilizing L-arginine and citric acid. The prepared Fe-CQDs exhibited good water solubility, high photostability, and bright blue florescence with relatively high quantum yields (QYs) over 21.33% and a Stokes shift exceeding 100 nm. The functionalized Fe-CQDs offer rapid, sensitive, and selective recognition of Fe³⁺ with a linear relationship from 0.6 to 80 μM and a low detection limit of 0.2 μM. Moreover, the synthesized Fe-CQDs illustrated strong anti-interference properties in samples and buffer solutions. The developed sensor demonstrated high biocompatibility and was successfully applied for intracellular Fe³⁺ determination in SHSY5Y and HT22 cells, illustrating excellent imaging application. The present work provides a promising platform for the early clinical diagnosis of Fe³⁺-associated diseases.

Keywords:

• Carbon quantum dots
• cell imaging
• fluorescence
• iron(III)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflicts of interest are reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. ZR 2022LSW023).