New method for morphological identification and simultaneous quantification of multiple tetracyclines by a white fluorescent probe

The threat of tetracycline antibiotics to the environment and human health is attracting widespread attention. The development of morphological analysis and quantitative techniques of multiple tetracyclines is of great significance for the evaluation of biochemical toxicity, wide-spectrum antibacterial property and degradation cycle between different tetracyclines. In this study, the white fluorescent Eu/Tb@CDs was synthesized and applied successfully to the identification and detection of the most widely used tetracycline antibiotics (tetra-cycline (TC), oxytetracycline (OC), chlortetracycline (CC) and doxycycline (DC)) with detection limits all below 1 nM. For the actual water samples with coexistence of the above 4 tetracyclines, their simultaneous morphology identification and accurate quantitative detection can also be realized through simple spectrometric measure-ment. In addition, the selective and competitive experiments have been carried out on the pollutants widely present in water, and the results have also confirmed that other pollutants could not interfere with the detection of the above 4 tetracyclines. It is undeniable that this work will conveniently and visually reveal the existence information and geographical distribution characteristics of different tetracycline antibiotics in the environment and their action mechanism on organisms.

四环素类抗生素对环境和人类健康的威胁正受到广泛关注。多种四环素类物质的形态分析及定量技术的发展，对于评估不同四环素类物质之间的生化毒性、广谱抗菌特性以及降解周期具有重要意义。在本研究中，合成了白色荧光的Eu/Tb@CDs，并成功应用于对最常用的四环素类抗生素（四环素（TC）、土霉素（OC）、金霉素（CC）和多西环素（DC））的识别和检测，检测限均低于1 nM。对于上述4种四环素共存的实际水样，通过简单的光谱测量也可实现对它们的同时形态识别和准确定量检测。此外，对水中广泛存在的污染物进行了选择性和竞争性实验，结果也证实其他污染物不会干扰对上述4种四环素的检测。不可否认，这项工作将方便且直观地揭示环境中不同四环素类抗生素的存在信息和地理分布特征及其对生物体的作用机制。