Eco-superior phyto-derived fluorescent silver nanoparticles: A novel, rapid and ultra-sensitive nano sensor with exceptional greenness, whiteness, and blueness for etoricoxib quantification in pharmaceuticals and biological matrices.

BACKGROUND

This study establishes the first direct spectrofluorimetric determination of Etoricoxib via silver nanoparticles, successfully eliminating the need for both tedious derivatization and aggressive chemical conditions. Tilia cordata leaves and flowers extract has been harnessed, for the first time, as a natural, readily available and environmentally benign reducing agent for sustainable synthesis of silver nanoparticles. These naturally derived nanoparticles were produced instantaneously via a simple, single step, mix-and-measure process.

RESULTS

The resulting Ag-NPs displayed strong blue fluorescence when exposed to UV light and exhibited intense emission at 440 nm upon excitation at 320 nm. Moreover, their exceptional fluorescence quantum yield of 85%, underscores their superior photoluminescent properties. Taken together, these favorable attributes render the fabricated nanoparticles exceptionally well-suited as fluorescent sensing probes for the selective and ultra-trace determination of etoricoxib. Ag-NPs fluorescence was effectively quenched by etoricoxib via a dual quenching mechanism dominated by static quenching with a secondary contribution from the inner filter effect. The sensor demonstrated excellent analytical performance for etoricoxib quantification, with a linear detection range of 0.06-10.0 μg/mL (r = 0.9999), and extremely low detection and quantification limits (LOD: 0.019 μg/mL, LOQ: 0.059 μg/mL).

SIGNIFICANCE: The selectivity of AgNPs-based approach was thoroughly verified by applying it to quantify etoricoxib in spiked human plasma and pharmaceutical preparations, with minimal %RSD and excellent recovery percentages. Overall, the proposed method provides a robust, sensitive, selective and analytically reliable fluorescent sensing platform for quantification of etoricoxib with excellent greenness, whiteness, and blueness profiles.