Fluorescent Determination of Dopamine Using Polythymine-Templated Copper Nanoclusters

ABSTRACTDopamine has been shown interact strongly with Cu2+ to form a stable complex and inhibit the formation of polythymine-templated copper nanoclusters. Based on these findings, a label-free sensing strategy has been designed for the detection of dopamine using polythymine-templated copper nanoclusters as fluorescence probes. The fluorescent method exhibits sensitive and selective detection of dopamine with a linear range from 1 nM to 50 µM and a detection limit of 0.5 nM. In addition, the method was successfully applied for the determination of dopamine in dopamine hydrochloride injection samples. Thus, this approach holds considerable potential for the construction of a simple, rapid, and sensitive fluorescent assay for the determination of dopamine.