A magnetic and carbon dot based molecularly imprinted composite for fluorometric detection of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol

A magnetic molecularly imprinted composite was prepared by reverse microemulsion using carbon dots (CDs), Fe₃O₄ as the co-nucleus, and a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP; with 2,4,6-trinitrophenol as the template) acting as recognition sites. The composite of type CD/Fe₃O₄@MIPs was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), zeta potentiometric analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The results showed that the composite MIP has a spherical shape with average diameter of 200 nm. They also showed that the composite contains core-shell structures with several Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles and CDs embedded in each of the microsphere. The composite can extract 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP) and has an imprinting factor of 3.6. It has high selectivity and sensitivity for TNP which acts as a quencher of the fluorescence of the CDs (with excitation/emission maxima at 370/470 nm). The limit of detection of this fluorometric TNP assay is 0.5 nM. The method was successfully applied to the determination of TNP in spiked tap water and river water samples, and recoveries ranged from 89.4% to 108.5% (with an RSD of <6%). Graphical abstract Schematic representation of the magnetic molecularly imprinted composite containing fluorescent carbon dots, Fe₃O₄ and molecularly imprinted polymer (CD/Fe₃O₄@MIPs). The CD/Fe₃O₄@MIPs were applied to the selective and sensitive detection of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP) by fluorometry.