Quantum confined peptide assemblies in a visual photoluminescent hydrogel platform and smartphone-assisted sample-to-answer analyzer for detecting trace pyrethroids

Quantum confinement (QC) effect-related materials have been extensively studied as photoluminescent probes for agricultural, food, and environmental analyses, with the advantage of simple-to-synthesize, reusable, nontoxic, and environmentally friendly. Herein, we propose a strategy to dimerize aromatic cyclo-dipeptides, namely cyclo-ditryptophan (cyclo-WW), cyclo-diphenylalanine (cyclo-FF), and cyclo-dihistidine (cyclo-HH), into quantum dots as basic building blocks for the self-assembly of QC supramolecular structures with excellent photoluminescent properties in aqueous solutions. In particular, through coordination with Zn(II), the bandgap can be tuned to change the photo-absorption and luminescence properties of the cyclo-dipeptide-based QC assemblies. The fluorescence quantum yield of cyclo-WW+Zn(II) was 16.9%. Such a good luminous effect makes it applicable to the detection of LC. A good linear relationship between fluorescence response of cyclo-WW+Zn(II) and LC concentration was observed in the range of 5-350 μg/L, with a low limit of detection of 2.9 μg/L and good spiked recovery of 90.72%-104.3%. A visual platform using the cyclo-WW+Zn(II)-based photoluminescent hydrogel and smartphone-assisted sample-to-answer analyzer were developed, which showed good responsiveness to LC. The developed fluorescence method, validated using traditional HPLC, is a biocompatible alternative for the rapid detection of trace pollutants with the advantages of portability and simple operation.