Colorimetric detection of thalassaemia therapeutic drug deferiprone through tuning the peroxidase-like activity of MoS 2 quantum dots

Precisely regulating the catalytic activity of nanozymes is of great significance for their applications in sensing, biomedicine, etc . In this work, the peroxidase-like activity of MoS2 quantum dots (QDs) is controlled by regulating their aggregation or disaggregation in aqueous solution. Specifically, monodispersed MoS2 QDs show very weak peroxidase-like activity. Fe3+ ions can induce significant aggregation of MoS2 QDs in aqueous solution and thus greatly enhance their activity. However, the drug deferiprone that commonly used for thalassaemia treatment can selectively bind with Fe3+ via complexation, thus inhibiting the aggregation of MoS2 QDs and their enhancement of enzyme-like activity. Based on this mechanism, a new colorimetric method for the detection of deferiprone is developed and further successfully applied to the quality control of drug. Moreover, with the aid of photographing and chroma analysis by a smartphone, a smartphone-based analytical method for deferiprone is also established, which is expected to be extended to point-of-care testing and diagnosis.