Fluorescence properties of 3-amino phenylboronic acid and its interaction with glucose and ZnS:Cu quantum dots

•Fluorescence of APBA is quenched by glucose and ZnS:Cu QDs.•Stern–Volmer constants increase with increasing pH in both cases.•Fluorescence lifetimes of APBA do not depend on pH and presence of glucose.•Quenching of APBA fluorescence by glucose is static.•Fluorescence lifetimes of APBA at presence of QDs decrease slightly.

Preliminary results of a study of the interaction between 3-amino phenylboronic acid and glucose or ZnS:Cu quantum dots are presented in this paper. ZnS:Cu quantum dots with mercaptopropionic acid as a capping agent were obtained and characterized. Quenching of 3-amino phenylboronic acid fluorescence was studied by steady-state and timeresolved measurements. For fluorescence quenching with glucose the results of steady-state measurements fulfill Stern–Volmer equation. The quenching constants are increasing with growing pH. The decay of fluorescence is monoexponential with lifetime about 8.4 ns, which does not depend on pH and glucose concentration indicating static quenching. The quenching constant can be interpreted as apparent equilibrium constant of estrification of boronic group with diol. Quantum dots are also quenching 3-amino phenylboronic acid fluorescence. Fluorescence lifetime, in this case, is slightly decreasing with increasing concentration of quantum dots. The quenching constants are increasing slightly with pH’s growth. Quenching mechanism of 3-amino phenylboronic acid fluorescence by quantum dots needs further experiments to be fully explained.

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