Glutathione-stabilized Cu nanoclusters as fluorescent probes for sensing pH and vitamin B1.

Glutathione (GSH), playing roles as both a reducing reagent and protecting ligand, has been successfully employed for synthesizing Cu nanoclusters (CuNCs@GSH) on the basis of a simple and facile approach. The as-prepared CuNCs exhibited a fluorescence emission at 600nm with a quantum yield (QY) of approximately 3.6%. Subsequently, the CuNCs described here was employed as a broad-range pH sensor by virtue of the fluorescence intensity of CuNCs responding sensitively to pH fluctuating in a linear range of 4.0-12.0. Meanwhile, these prepared CuNCs were applied for detections of vitamin B1 (VB1) on the basis of positively charged VB1 neutralizing the negative surface charge of CuNCs, thus leading to the instability and aggregations of CuNCs, and further facilitating to quench their fluorescence. In addition, the proposed analytical method permitted detecting VB1 with a linear range of 2.0×10(-8)-1.0×10(-4) mol L(-1) as well as a detection limit of 4.6×10(-9) mol L(-1). Eventually, the practicability of this sensing approach was validated by assaying VB1 in human urine samples and pharmaceutical tablets, confirming its potential to broaden avenues for assaying VB1.