A chemiluminescence probe enhanced by cobalt and nitrogen-doped carbon dots for the determination of a nitrosative stress biomarker.

A chemiluminometric method is introduced for the determination of the stress biomarker, 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) based on the H2O2-NaIO4 reaction enhanced by cobalt and nitrogen-doped carbon dots (Co,N-CDs). In this chemiluminescence (CL) system, the emission proved to be originated from the excited-state Co,N-CDs (λmax = 504 nm). Comparing the effect of Co,N-CDs with that of some other metal ion-doped CDs and undoped CDs indicated the high efficiency of Co,N-CDs in the CL amplification (about 1980-fold). This was attributed to the fact that Co,N-CDs, in addition to other functions, could act as catalytic center, to accelerate the decomposition of H2O2 and to increase the number of hydroxyl radicals. It was found that 3-NT inhibits the action of Co,N-CDs by an electron transfer process, leading to a decline in the CL intensity of the system. Therefore, a new CL sensing platform was introduced for the assay of 3-NT in the range 5.0 to 300 nM with a detection limit of 1.5 nM. The probe was utilized for the analysis of biological samples.