A fluorescence sensor for thiram detection based on DNA-templated silver nanoclusters without metal ion-mediator

In this work, we firstly found a strong competitive interaction between thiram and silver atoms of DNA-templated silver nanoclusters (DNA-AgNCs), leading to fluorescence quenching of DNA-AgNCs without additional metal ion-mediator. Furthermore, this thiram-induced fluorescence quenching phenomenon was used to develop a sensor for thiram detection. This fluorescence sensor exhibited good linearity with thiram concentration from 0.20 to 2.0 μM and 0.012-0.20 μM under optimized conditions, with a low detection limit of 0.2 μM and 0.01 μM, respectively. Moreover, this sensor showed superior selectivity towards thiram, and its practicability was verified in apples and soil. This study provides a convenient and rapid "mix and detect" approach for thiram detection within 10 min, suggesting its potential for rapid on-site evaluation of thiram in real samples.