Facile synthesis of stable CdTe/CdS QDs using dithiol as surface ligand for alkaline phosphatase detection based on inner filter effect.

Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is a universal and important hydrolase that has been proved to be associated with several diseases. Herein, a simple and effective method was proposed for ALP detection based on the inner filter effect of p-nitrophenol (pNP) on the fluorescence of CdTe/CdS quantum dots (QDs). For the preparation of CdTe/CdS QDs, Na2TeO3 was used as the Te source, and dithiol as the S source and surface ligand. The as-prepared CdTe/CdS QDs show good fluorescence properties, such as high quantum yield (∼80%), and good chemical/photo-stability. pNP is a hydrolysate of p-nitrophenol phosphate disodium salt under the catalysis of ALP, which could effectively quench the fluorescence of QDs due to the absorption spectra of pNP overlaps well with the excitation spectra of the CdTe/CdS QDs. Therefore, the prepared CdTe/CdS QDs could be applied for ALP detection. A good linear relationship ranging from 2.2 to 220 U/L was obtained with the limit of detection as low as 0.34 U/L. In addition, this method was successfully applied for the assay of ALP in human serum with the satisfactory results.