Abstract
Fluorescent carbon dots with blue, green, and red emissions were rapidly prepared from modified pine needles through microwave irradiation in a one-pot reaction. The fluorescence intensity and emission versatility for a carbon source were experimentally optimized. The reaction times were under 10 min and the reaction temperatures were lower than 220 °C. Potential applications of magnetic fluorescence-linked immunoassays of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were presented. The detection limits for CEA and TNF-α (3.1 and 2.8 pg mL(-1), respectively) are lower than those presented in other reports, whereas the linear ranges for CEA and TNF-α (9 pg mL(-1) to 18 ng mL(-1) and 8.5 pg mL(-1) to 17 ng mL(-1), respectively) are wider than those presented in other reports. Magnetic immunoassays with fluorescent CD(s) prepared from pine needles can enable rapid, sensitive, and selective detections for biochemical analysis.