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Manganese(II)-doped carbon dots as effective oxidase mimics for sensitive colorimetric determination of ascorbic acid

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Abstract

A colorimetric assay is presented for the determination of ascorbic acid (AA). Manganese(II) doped carbon dots (Mn-CDs) were prepared by a convenient hydrothermal route and are shown to possess oxidase-like catalytic ability. They catalyze the oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) by dissolved oxygen to form a blue colored product (oxTMB). AA can reduce blue oxTMB to colorless TMB. The fading of the blue color (measured at 652 nm) can be applied for quantifying AA in the 50 to 2500 nM concentration range and with a 9 nM detection limit. The method was successfully used for the quantitation of AA in real samples.

Schematic representation of a colorimetric assay platform for the sensitive detection of ascorbic acid (AA) in view of inhibitory effect of AA on the 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) oxidation, benefitting from excellent oxidase-like catalytic activity of manganese(II) doped carbon dots (Mn-CDs).

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Anhui Laboratory of Molecule-Based Materials Open Fund (No. fzj19006) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21303003, 21375003 and 21705003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anhui Laboratory of Molecule-Based Materials; Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids, Ministry of Education; Anhui Key Laboratory of Chemo-Biosensing, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, People’s Republic of China

    Shujuan Zhuo, Jing Fang, Meng Li, Jing Wang, Changqing Zhu & Jinyan Du

  2. Anhui Meijia New Materials Company Limited, Wuhu, 241000, People’s Republic of China

    Shujuan Zhuo

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  1. Shujuan Zhuo
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  2. Jing Fang
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  3. Meng Li
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Correspondence to Shujuan Zhuo or Changqing Zhu.

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Zhuo, S., Fang, J., Li, M. et al. Manganese(II)-doped carbon dots as effective oxidase mimics for sensitive colorimetric determination of ascorbic acid. Microchim Acta 186, 745 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-019-3887-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-019-3887-6

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