Novel synthesis of orange-red emitting copper nanoclusters stabilized by methionine as a fluorescent probe for norfloxacin sensing

In the present work, we report a novel chemical approach for the synthesis of orange-red emitting copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) using L-methionine as stabilizing agent at room temperature for the first time. The synthetic route is facile, economical and viable. The methionine stabilized copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs/Met) were thoroughly characterized by TEM, FT-IR, XPS, UV–Vis, steady state and transient fluorescence spectroscopy. The results show the synthesized Cu NCs/Met with a fluorescence quantum yield of 4.37% possessed high stability and excellent optical features such as large Stokes shift and long fluorescence lifetime (8.3 μs). Significantly, the fluorescence intensity of Cu NCs/Met could be efficiently quenched by norfloxacin (NOR) pharmaceutical. A fast and cost-effective NOR sensor was proposed employing Cu NCs/Met as the fluorescent nanoprobe, and the quenching mechanisms were attributed to inner filter effect and agglomeration-induced quenching. The developed sensor exhibited a high sensitivity and selectivity towards NOR in a wide linear range from 0.05 to 250 μM with a detection limit as low as 17 nM. Moreover, the practicability of the developed NOR sensor for real sample assay was validated with satisfactory recoveries, indicating this sensing platform with great potential for label-free pharmaceutical detection in complex systems.