An Efficient Fluorescent Probe for Tetracycline Detection Based on Histidine-Templated Copper Nanoclusters

In this contribution, we established a simple, green, fast and cost-effective strategy to prepare green-emitting fluorescence copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) by using histidine as a stabilizer and ascorbic acid as a reducing agent. A series of characterization methods including fluorescence spectroscopy, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the Cu NCs. The histidine-capped Cu NCs (His-Cu NCs) was well dispersed and exhibited good water solubility, excellent photostability and salt resistance. Interestingly, it was discovered that tetracycline caused a sensitive and selective decline in the fluorescence intensity of His-Cu NCs for the first time. The proposed analysis system showed a wide linear range from 0.1 to 110 mu M, and the detection limit was 0.047 mu M. After that, the fluorescent assay was successfully employed to analyze tetracycline in lake water samples.