Fluorometric determination of glucose based on a redox reaction between glucose and aminopropyltriethoxysilane and in-situ formation of blue-green emitting silicon nanodots.

A method is described for fluorometric detection of glucose. It is based on the finding that silicon nanodots (SNDs) are formed from glucose and aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) under mild experimental conditions. The SNDs thus formed have an average diameter of ∼2 nm, exhibit good water dispersibility, blue fluorescence (with excitation/emission maxima at 410/475 nm), broad pH tolerance, and are photostable. The assay was applied to the quantification of glucose with high sensitivity, good specificity, and over a wide detection range (from 10 μM to 0.9 mM). It was applied to the determination of glucose in spiked serum samples and gave satisfactory results and recoveries. Graphical abstract Schematic presentation of serum glucose detection based on a redox reaction between glucose and aminopropyltriethoxysilane and in-situ formation of blue-green emitting silicon nanodots.