Rapid determination of the anti-cancer agent Gemcitabine in biological samples by fluorescence sensor based on Au-doped CdTe

Gemcitabine hydrochloride is an established chemotherapeutic agent in several solid tumors. Along with its outstanding effects, Gemcitabine has some side effects, which may cause suffering to patients. Herein we developed, a novel but simple method for the selective and sensitive quantitative determination of Gemcitabine drug based upon measuring the fluorescence quenching of functionalized Au doped quantum dots (QDs) in biological samples. The TGA capped Au doped CdTe quantum dots prepared through hydrothermal methods exhibit excellent photoluminescence intensity as well as good photostability. The QDs fluorescence can be quenched by Gemcitabine anticancer drugs via photoinduced charge transfer, which renders the system into fluorescence “OFF” status. Under the experimental conditions, the limits of detection were 0.1 μM for Gemcitabine in aqueous media, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9945 and a limit of detection of 0.3-100 μM. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for Gemcitabine was 3.4% (n = 3). To further investigate for perfect analysis performance, it was applied to the determination of Gemcitabine in human plasma and urine samples with satisfactory results.