Phosphorescence detection of L-ascorbic acid with surface-attached N-acetyl-L-cysteine and L-cysteine Mn doped ZnS quantum dots

N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) and L-cysteine (Cys) capped Mn doped ZnS quantum dots (NAC-Mn/ZnS QDs and Cys-Mn/ZnS QDs) are firstly prepared by hydrothermal methods. These QDs display strong phosphorescence emission peaks at 583 and 580 nm upon excitation at 315 and 306 nm, respectively. Since their room-temperature phosphorescence is efficiently quenched by L-ascorbic acid (AA), they have been employed as phosphorescence probes for detecting AA. The linear working ranges are 2.5–37.5 and 2.5–47.5 µM and the limits of detection are 0.72 and 1.38 µM for NAC-Mn/ZnS QDs and Cys-Mn/ZnS QDs, respectively. The possible quenching mechanisms have been discussed in detail. The QDs probes are highly selective to AA over other common ions, amino acids, glucose and bovine serum album. Finally, they have been applied successfully for detection of AA in human urine samples with satisfactory results. The recoveries are 98–104%. Our work provides a simple and convenient phosphorescence method to determine AA in real samples.