Surface molecularly imprinted polymer capped Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots as a phosphorescent nanosensor for detecting patulin in apple juice

•6-HNA as dummy template for PAT to create imprinting binding sites.•Affinity between aminopropyl and PAT responds to phosphorescence quenching.•Higher specificity for PAT than for its analogues and the dummy template.•Specific recognition remains with 5-HMF co-existed.•Recoveries of ∼120% with RSDs of ∼5% for PAT in apple juice.

A Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots (QDs) based nanosensor for selective phosphorescent determination of patulin (PAT) was synthesized with 6-hydroxynicotinic acid (6-HNA) as dummy template via a surface molecular imprinting sol-gel process. FTIR and XRD indicated the successful graft of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) onto crystal QDs. Binding tests revealed that the MIP-QDs presented higher selectivity, adsorption capacity and mass transfer rate than non-imprinted polymers, demonstrating a specific recognition for PAT among competitive mycotoxins and its analogues with the imprinting factor of 2.02. The MIP-QDs could recognize PAT in a linear range of 0.43-6.50 μmol L−1 with a detection limit of 0.32 μmol L−1 and a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.9945. Recoveries of 102.9-127.2% with relative standard deviations <4.95% were achieved in apple juice samples which were in good agreement with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (P > 0.05). The results indicated a simple phosphorescent nanosensor for PAT detection in complex matrix.