Synthesis of greenish-yellow fluorescent copper nanocluster for the selective and sensitive detection of fipronil pesticide in vegetables and grain samples

Abstract

Abstract A new synthetic route for Avaram senna (A. Senna) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) based high-luminescent greenish-yellow fluorescent copper nanocluster (PVP@A. Senna-Cu NCs) is introduced in this work. A. Senna plant extract mainly contains phytochemicals are glycoside, sugar, saponins, phenols, and terpenoids that show good pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antidiabetic. PVP is a stable and biocompatible polymer that is used as a stabilizing agent for the synthesis of PVP@A. Senna-Cu NCs. The size, surface functionality, and element composition of the fabricated Cu NCs was confirmed by various analytical techniques. The resulting copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) exhibit significant selectivity towards fipronil. These PVP@A. Senna-Cu NCs show selective detection of fipronil pesticides through the aggregation-caused quenching mechanism. As synthesized sensor shows linear concentration ranging from 3 to 30 µM with a detection limit at a nanomolar scale (65.19 nM). More importantly, PVP@A. Senna-Cu NCs successfully apply for the determination of fipronil in vegetables and grain samples.