Polyethyleneimine-templated copper nanoclusters via ascorbic acid reduction approach as ferric ion sensor.

In this report we reported a facile one-pot method for synthesis of water-soluble and stable fluorescent CuNCs at room temperature, in which branched polyethyleneimine (BPEI) served as capping scaffold and ascorbic acid as reducing agent. The prepared BPEI-CuNCs exhibited excellent properties such as good water-solubility, photostability and high stability toward high ionic strength. Based on the electron transfer induced fluorescence quenching mechanism, this fluorescence probe was used for the sensitive and selective determination of ferric ions (Fe(3+)) in aqueous solution. The limit of detection was 340 nM in the linear range of 0.5-1000 µM, which was lower than the maximum level of Fe(3+) permitted in drinking water by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The method was successfully applied to the detection of Fe(3+) in tap water, Yellow River water and human urine samples with the quantitative spike recoveries ranging from 95.3% to 112.0%.

On-line capillary electrophoresis enrichment by combining chitosan trapping with surfactant assisted sample stacking for the ultratrace determination of organic acids in Plateau alfalfa roots.

In this paper, four organic acids constituents of Plateau alfalfa roots have been identified and detected by a novel capillary electrophoresis (CE) strategy which combined chitosan (CS) trapping and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) assisted sample stacking. Under the optimized condition, organic acids, i.e., aconitic acid, gallic acid, citric acid and l-malic acid were concentrated and separated within 3 min. Validation parameters of this method (such as detection limits, linearity and precision) were also investigated and the limit of detection (LOD) was 2.41-53.9 ng mL(-1). Linearity was obtained over the magnitude range of 5-4000 ng mL(-1) approximately for different organic acids and 3×10(2)-1.5×10(4) folds enrichment was achieved. The method has been applied to the determination of organic acids in roots of normal grown Plateau alfalfa and stressing affected Plateau alfalfa. Satisfactory results and recoveries were obtained in the analysis without costly and complicated sample pretreatment.