Abstract
Recently, carbon dots (CDs) have been extensively investigated as potential tools for numerous applications. Modified lignin-based CDs have been synthesized and used in the field of drug detection. They were found to be highly selective and sensitive to valsartan (VAL). Using a simple hydrothermal method, phosphorus and chlorine co-doped CDs were synthesized using lignin extracted from date seeds. The fluorescence properties of the synthesized CDs are influenced by several factors, which were investigated in detail. The optimal synthesis conditions were 1.50 g of lignin, 18 mL of 2 M NaOH, 1 mM H3PO4, 3 mM HCl and the mixture was heated at 220 °C for 16 hours. The synthesized lignin-based CDs have excellent FL properties and are well soluble in water with reasonable stability. Characterization of the prepared CDs revealed that they have various functional groups with a graphene oxide-like structure. The developed CDs show a good quantum yield of 37.7%. The FL of the CDs is quenched by VAL at λ em 313 nm after λ ex at 275 nm by a combination of static and dynamic quenching mechanisms. The response of VAL was linear in the range of 4.0-100.0 μg mL-1. The detection and quantification limits of VAL were 1.23 and 3.71 μg mL-1, respectively. The nanoprobe was successfully used to analyze VAL in drug samples and provided satisfactory results.