Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

“Turn On” Fluorescence Determination of Nitrite Using Green Synthesized Carbon Nanoparticles

  • ORIGINAL ARTICLE
  • Published:
Journal of Fluorescence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although several methods have been reported for the determination of nitrite, development of simple, rapid, cost-effective, and sensitive sensors still remains a great challenge. Here, a simple yet very sensitive fluorescent method for the rapid determination of nitrite has been developed. The fluorescent assay is based on the aggregation of PEG6000 coated carbon nanoparticles (PCNs) in the presence of NO2 − ions resulting in fluorescence enhancement. The assay response was linear in a concentration range of 3.84 × 10−8 M to 4.97 × 10−9 M with a detection limit of 2.32 × 10−9 M. The proposed sensor exhibited good selectivity towards NO2 − and was successfully applied for the determination of nitrite in milk, borewell water and soil samples.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bhunia SK, Saha A, Maity AR, Ray SC, Jana NR (2013) Carbon nanoparticle-based fluorescent bioimaging probes. Sci Rep 3:1473

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Montague JG (2011) Nitrite milk scandal exposes gaps in Chinese food safety reforms. http://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/Policy/Nitrite-milk-scandalexposes-gaps-in Chinese-food-safety-reforms

  3. Wikipedia contributors (2015) Infrared spectroscopy. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopaedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Infrared_spectroscopy&oldid=659098185. Accessed 29 May 2015

  4. Sreekumar NV, Narayana B, Prashant H, Manjunatha BR, Sarojini BK (2003) Determination of nitrite by simple diazotization method. Microchem J 74:27–32

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Helrich H (1995) AOAC Method 36.1.21. In: Official methods of analysis (16th ed). Washington, DC

  6. Chao L, Jin-Ming L, Carmen WH, Masaaki Y (2004) Chemiluminescence study of carbonate and peroxynitrous acid and its application to the direct determination of nitrite based on solid surface enhancement. Anal Chem Acta 510:29–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Vikraman AE, Jose AR, Jacob M, Girish Kumar K (2015) Thioglycolic acid capped CdS quantum dots as a fluorescent probe for the nanomolar determination of dopamine. Anal Methods. doi:10.1039/C5AY01412C

    Google Scholar 

  8. Vikraman AE, Thomas D, Cyriac ST, Girish Kumar K (2014) Kinetic and thermodynamic approach in the development of a voltammetric sensor for sunset yellow. J Electrochem Soc 161:B305–B311

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Rasheed Z, Vikraman AE, Thomas D, Jagan JS, Girish Kumar K (2015) Carbon-nanotube-based sensor for the determination of butylated hydroxyanisole in food sample. Food Anal Methods 8:213–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Jos T, Lonappan L, Rasheed Z, Vikraman AE, Girish Kumar K (2014) Voltammetric determination of guaifenesin on a MWCNT modified Pt electrode. ECS Electrochem Lett 3:B23–B25

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Vikraman AE, Rasheed Z, Rajith L, Lonappan LA, Girish Kumar K (2013) MWCNT-modified gold electrode sensor for the determination of propyl gallate in vegetable oils. Food Anal Methods 6:775–780

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Chandran S, Lonappan LA, Thomas D, Jos T, Girish Kumar K (2014) Development of an electrochemical sensor for the determination of amaranth: a synthetic dye in soft drinks. Food Anal Methods 7:741–746

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Jos T, Jose AR, Sivasankaran U, Girish Kumar K (2015) Electrochemical sensing of tinidazole on modified glassy carbon electrodes. J Electrochem Soc 162:B94–B100

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Wu L et al. (2013) A green synthesis of carbon nanoparticles from honey and their use in real-time photoacoustic imaging. Nano Res 6:312–325

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Chirila N (2004) A sensitive spectrophotometric determination of nitrite in water and soil. J Chin Chem Soc 51:195–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Zhang T, Fan H, Jin Q (2010) Sensitive and selective detection of nitrite ion based on fluorescence superquenching of conjugated polyelectrolyte. Talanta 81:95–99

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Lin Z, Xue W, Chen H, Lin JM (2011) Peroxynitrous-acid-induced chemiluminescence of fluorescent carbon dots for nitrite sensing. Anal Chem 83:8245–8251

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Xiao W, Xiao D, Xia J, Chen Z (2011) Fluorescent sensing of nitrite at nanomolar level using functionalized mesoporous silica. Microchim Acta 173:73–78

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Mitschke A, Gutzki FM, Tsikas D (2007) 9- and 10-nitro-oleic acid do not interfere with the GC-MS quantitative determination of nitrite and nitrate in biological fluids when measured as their pentafluorobenzyl derivatives. J Chromatogr B 851:287–291

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Wang L, Li B, Zhang L, Zhao H (2012) Fabrication and characterization of a fluorescent sensor based on Rh 6G-functionlized silica nanoparticles for nitrite ion detection. Sensors Actuators B Chem 171:946–953

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Wu Q, Peng Q, Niu Y, Gao X, Shuai Z (2012) Theoretical insights into the aggregation-induced emission by hydrogen bonding: a QM/MM study. J Phys Chem A 116:3881–3888

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Particle aggregation (2015) In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Particle_aggregation&oldid=674518902

  23. Noha M, Kima T, Leea H, Kimb C, Jooc S, Lee K (2010) Fluorescence quenching caused by aggregation of water-soluble CdSe quantum dots. Colloids Surf A 359:39–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Che Y, Yang X, Zang L (2008) Ultraselective fluorescent sensing of Hg2+ through metal coordination-induced molecular aggregation. Chem Commun 12:1413–1415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Xue C, Xue Y, Dai L, Urbas A, Li Q (2013) Size and shape-dependent fluorescence quencing of gold nanoparticles on perylene dye. Adv Optical Mater 1:581–587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Li K, Liu B (2014) Polymer-encapsulated organic nanoparticles for fluorescence and photoacoustic imaging. Chem Soc Rev 43:6570–6597

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Ke J, Li X, Zhao Q, Hou Y (2014) Ultrasensitive quantum dot fluorescence quenching assay for selective detection of mercury ions in drinking water. J Chem Sci Rep 4:5624

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Dea S, Palb A, Janac NR, Pald T (2000) Anion effect in linear silver nanoparticle aggregation as evidenced by efficient fluorescence quenching and SERS enhancement. J Photochem Photobiol A Chem 131:111–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Manciulea A, Baker A, Lead JR (2009) A fluorescence quenching study of the interaction of Suwannee river fulvic acid with iron oxide nanopartciles. Chemosphere 76:1023–1027

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

One of the authors (K. Girish Kumar) would like to express his gratitude to University Grants Commission (UGC), Govt. of India for financial assistance in the form of ‘One Time Research Grant’.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Chemistry, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, 22, India

    Shalini Menon, Anuja Elevathoor Vikraman, S. Jesny & Krishnapillai Girish Kumar

Authors
  1. Shalini Menon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anuja Elevathoor Vikraman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. S. Jesny
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Krishnapillai Girish Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Krishnapillai Girish Kumar.

Ethics declarations

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Funding

This study was funded by University Grants Commission (UGC), Govt. of India (grant number F.19-133/2014(BSR)).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Menon, S., Vikraman, A.E., Jesny, S. et al. “Turn On” Fluorescence Determination of Nitrite Using Green Synthesized Carbon Nanoparticles. J Fluoresc 26, 129–134 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-015-1692-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-015-1692-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation