Facile synthesis of near infrared fluorescent trypsin-stabilized Ag nanoclusters with tunable emission for 1,4-dihydronicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and ethanol sensing

•The trypsin was utilized as template to prepare Ag nanocluster.•The prepared Ag nanocluster was quenched by coenzyme NADH instead of NAD+.•The Ag nanocluster could be used as a novel analytical platform for ethanol.•The proposed platform could detect ethanol in the range from 10 to 300 μmol/L.

A facile chemical synthetic route was developed to prepare near-infrared fluorescent trypsin-stabilized Ag nanoclusters (Try-Ag NCs). The fluorescence emission wavelength of the produced Try-Ag NCs is tunable by simple adjusting pH value of the synthesis system, and the Try-Ag NCs offer a symmetric fluorescent excitation and emission peak. The fluorescence of Try-Ag NCs remains constant in the presence of various ions and molecules, and it can be effectively quenched by 1,4-dihydronicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) instead of its oxidized forms nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). This property enables the Try-Ag NCs to be a novel analytical platform to monitor biological reaction involved with NADH. In this work, the Try-Ag NCs was also applied to analyze ethanol based on the generation of NADH which was the product of NAD+ and ethanol in the catalysis of alcohol dehydrogenase. And the proposed platform allowed ethanol to be determined in the range from 10 to 300 μmol/L with 5 μmol/L detection limit.

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