Green Sensor Technology: Quantitation of Carbidopa and Eltrombopag Using Date Kernel-Derived Carbon Dots

In this work, we developed a novel sensing technique based on food in edible "waste" recycling approach. The eco-friendly and rapid strategy is based on microwave pyrolysis bottom-up technique for date kernels (DK) and thiourea, resulting in the formation of sensor probe based on carbon dots (CDs) for quantification of carbidopa (CAR) and eltrombopag (ELT).

Discriminatory switch-off fluorescent nanosensors were utilized for the quantitation of two frequently administered drugs: CAR and ELT in nano dimension levels.

Versatile spectroscopic techniques were used for characterization. Spectrofluorimetric quenching approach is applied for this study. The interference likely to be introduced from other drugs was studied. The analytical greenness for sample preparation (AGREE prep) and complex green analytical procedure index (complex GAPI) metric tools were applied to evaluate the developed approach environmental impact.

Both CAR and ELT exhibited static quenching to the sulfur and nitrogen date kernels carbon dots (S, NDKCDs) with high quantum yield of 53% with λex of 330 nm and λem at 410 nm over the ranges of 50.0-600.0 ng/mL and 100.0-1000.0 ng/mL, independently with high %Recovery from 98.5 to 102, low relative standard deviation (RSD) < 2%.

The developed method was validated in adherence to the ICH Q2(R1) guidelines. The synthesized carbon nanodots were exploited for the quantitation of each of CAR and ELT in their pure forms, pharmaceutical preparations, and human plasma samples with outstanding greenness metrices.