Determination of atropine using Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots as novel luminescent sensitizers

A novel chemiluminescence (CL) method using water-soluble Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots (QDs) as sensitizers is proposed for the chemiluminometric determination of atropine in pharmaceutical formulation. Water-soluble Mn-doped ZnS QDs were synthesized by using l-cysteine as stabilizer in aqueous solutions. The nanoparticles were structurally and optically characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV–vis absorption spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) emission spectroscopy. It was found that ZnS quantum dots acted as enhancers of the weak CL emission produced upon oxidation of sulfite by Ce(IV) in acidic medium. Trace amounts of atropine improved the sensitize effect of ZnS quantum dots yielding a significant chemiluminescence enhancement of the Ce(IV)–SO32−–ZnS QD system. Therefore, a new CL analysis system was developed for the determination of atropine. Under the optimum conditions, there is a good linear relationship between the relative chemiluminescence intensity and the concentration of atropine in the range of 1×10−9–1×10−6 M of atropine with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.9992. The limit of detection of this system was found to be 2.54×10−10 M. This method is not only simple, sensitive and low cost, but also reliable for practical applications.