Hydrophilic silicon nanoparticles as a turn-off and colorimetric fluorescent probe for curcuminoids detection in food samples and cell imaging

• Published in: Food chemistry 2022-01, Vol.366, p.130629-130629, Article 130629
• Main Authors: Li, Qin-Ying, Wang, Ya-Qian, Jiang, Ming, Cui, Yuanyuan, Yu, Xu, Xu, Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cell imaging; Colorimetric; Curcuminoids; Fluorescence probe; Food samples; Hydrophilic silicon nanoparticles
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.130629

•Hydrophilic fluorescent SiNPs were prepared from hydrophobic silane.•SiNPs were used as the fluorescence and colorimetric probe to detect curcuminoids.•SiNPs accurately quantified curcuminoids in ten food samples validated by HPLC.•The on-site colorimetric visual semi-quantification of curcuminoids was realized.•SiNPs imaged intracellular curcuminoids with a prospect of biological application. Hydrophilic fluorescent silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) with good pH stability, salt-tolerance and anti-photobleaching were for the first time prepared from hydrophobic 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane. Employing SiNPs as the fluorescence probe, selective quantification of curcuminoids based on the quenching effect was realized with a linearity of 0.046–7.4 μg/mL and a limit of detection of 17.6 ng/mL. Moreover, in light of fluorescence redshift of SiNPs corresponding to the elevated concentration of curcuminoids, a fluorescence colorimetric method was established based on only one extra probe, i.e. herein SiNPs. Thus, semi-quantification of curcuminoids (0–14.7 μg/mL) was visualized from blue to yellow color. Both the developed quantitative and semi-quantitative probe were successfully applied to determine curcuminoids in various actual food samples. Furthermore, SiNPs possessed low cytotoxicity and succeeded in intracellular curcuminoids imaging. The proposed SiNPs could be a promising fluorescence probe for multiple applications.