Polymer brush functional ratiometric fluorescent sensors coupled with aptamer for visible detection of puerarin and ginsenoside via smartphone

Puerarin and ginsenoside are very valuable Chinese herbal medicines. Development of sensitive and rapid detection method is of great significance for quality control and clinical therapy. Herein, the polymer brush and aptamer-modified ratiometric fluorescence sensors (r-sensors) were developed for sensitive and selective detecting puerarin and ginsenoside via smartphone. The polymer brush (polyethylene glycol (PEG)) and aptamer modified CdTe quantum dots (QDs) and MoS2 QDs were served as response sensors and reference sensors, respectively. The detection limits (LOD) of r-sensors were 36 nM for puerarin and 8 nM for ginsenoside, respectively. Importantly, the sensors were used for rapid and convenient measurement of the puerarin and ginsenoside in human serum, human urine and liqueur samples with recovery rates of 80–105.34 % for puerarin, 84.02–111.75 % for ginsenoside. Therefore, the methods have a promising application for visible, portable and sensitive analysis of puerarin and ginsenoside in clinical analysis and food safety.