Electrochemical Detection of Nuciferine in the Lotus Leaf Based on Efficient Catalysis by Zirconium-MOFs

Background Nuciferine is an amorphine alkaloid in lotus leaf that has anti-inflammatory, lipid-lowering and hypoglycemic effects, so the quantitation of detected nuciferine is important. Objective An electrochemical method was developed for nuciferine detection based on efficient catalysis by Zr-MOFs (Metal-organic frameworks). Methods In this work, the ratiometric electrochemical method was developed for nuciferine detection based on efficient catalysis by Zr-MOFs. UiO66 is a Zr-MOFs nanomaterial and can absorb methylene blue (MB) by electrostatic action to form UiO66-MB nanocomposite. The UiO66-MB nanocomposite can be used as an enhancer to catalyze nuciferine decomposition and a carrier to provide a two-dimensional environment for the reaction of nuciferine. Moreover, good catalytic properties of UiO66 were first time used for the detection of nuciferine. Results This method has a linear detection range from 0.1 to approximately 20 mu g/mL, and a low detection limit of 0.03 mu g/mL (S/N=3). The recovery was from 98.1 to 102% and the RSD was from 0.45 to 3.65%, indicating that the proposed method can be applied for the analysis of real samples. Conclusion The proposed electrochemical method can be used to detect nuciferine in lotus leaves.