Rapid detection of ciprofloxacin in seawater based on CdTe quantum dots coated with molecularly imprinted polymers

In this work, a sensitive fluorescent sensor for the detection of ciprofloxacin (CIP) was developed by wrapping the surface of CdTe quantum dots (QDs) with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). The MIP@QDs were synthesized via a simple sol–gel method using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) as the functional monomer and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as the crosslinker. The fluorescence emission of the probe was at 643 nm. Linear calibration curves were obtained in the range of 0.5–24 [Formula: see text]M for CIP with the detection limit of 0.23 [Formula: see text]M (S/N[Formula: see text]3). The fluorescent probe was successfully applied to the determination of CIP in seawater samples with the spiked recoveries ranging from 98.2% to 110.6% and the relative standard deviation (RSD) was less than 10.7%. It is the first time that QDs with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP@QDs) were introduced for separation and detection of CIP in seawater and obtained good specific identification ability and potential practical value.