Synthesis, modification, bioconjugation of silica coated fluorescent quantum dots and their application for mycotoxin detection.

To create bright and stable fluorescent biolabels for immunoassay detection of mycotoxin deoxynivalenol in food and feed, CdSe/CdS/ZnS core-shell quantum dots (QDs) were encapsulated in silica nanoparticles through a water-in-oil reverse microemulsion process. The optical properties and stability of the obtained silica coated QDs (QD@SiO2), modified with amino, carboxyl and epoxy groups and stabilized with polyethylene glycol fragments, were characterized in order to assess their bioapplicability. The developed co-condensation techniques allowed maintaining 80% of the initial fluorescent properties and yielded stable fluorescent labels that could be easily activated and bioconjugated. Further, the modified QD@SiO2 were efficiently conjugated with antibodies and applied as a novel label in a microtiter plate based immunoassay and a quantitative column-based rapid immunotest for deoxynivalenol detection with IC50 of 473 and 20 ng/ml, respectively.