Competitive analysis of saccharides or dopamine by boronic acid-functionalized CdSe–ZnS quantum dots

The fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between CdSe-ZnS QDs and fluorophore-labeled galactose or fluorophore-labeled dopamine linked to phenyl boronic acid-functionalized QDs is used to develop competitive assays for the optical detection of galactose, glucose, or dopamine.