Highly emissive boron-doped g-C3N4-glycolchitosan probe with ultralong stability and its application in sensitive nortriptyline monitoring

Antidepressant abuse has become a growing concern due to their bioaccumulation and potential drug resistance in the environment. Developing smart sensing platforms for antidepressant drug identification could monitor their contamination situation in time. Here, a novel boron-doped g-C3N4-glycolchitosan composite (BCNP-GC) was synthesized with high fluorescence emission and ultralong water stability. The electron-deficient boron atom greatly improves the fluorescence response of the composite, while the encapsulation of glycol-chitosan (GC) further enhances its water stability. The designed BCNP-GC could serve as a highly efficient fluorescent probe for the rapid and sensitive detection of nortriptyline (NOT), a typical antidepressant drug in the environment, via internal filtration effect and dynamic quenching effect. It is expected that this strategy can be extended to the fabrication of a variety of nitrogenous carbon-based tricyclic antidepressant monitoring systems with more customized functionalities.