A graphitic carbon nitride based fluorescence resonance energy transfer detection of riboflavin

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), which occurs between two luminescent chromophores, can greatly improve the selectivity and sensitivity of a fluorescent assay when a ratiometric signaling with the fluorescence enhancement of the acceptor at the expense of the donor is adopted. In this study, a fluorescence ratiometric detection (FRD) of riboflavin (RF) has been made based on FRET, as the strong overlap occurred between the emission spectrum of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and absorption spectrum of RF, in which g-C3N4 acts as the energy donor and RF as the energy acceptor. With increasing concentration of RF, the fluorescence intensity of g-C3N4 emission at 444 nm decreased and the fluorescence peak at 523 nm for RF increased regularly, making the fluorescence intensity ratio of 523 nm to 444 nm linearly dependent on the concentration of RF in the range from 0.4 μM to 10 μM, giving a limit of the detection of 170 nM. This method can be used to quantify RF in complex systems such as milk and drink, showing that the novel FRET-based fluorescence ratiometric detection can enable an attractive assay platform for analytes of interest.