Sensitive and Selective Determination of Sudan I in Food by Molecularly Imprinted Polymer (MIP) Based Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET)

Sudan I is a cancer-causing chemical synthetic dye that is often illegally added to foods as a colorant. In this manuscript, based on molecularly imprinted polymers coated carbon dots (CDs@SiO2@MIPs), a novel fluorescence sensor is reported for the selective and sensitive determination of Sudan I. The sensor was prepared upon the surface of silica-coated carbon dots (CD@SiO2) by a one-pot sol-gel method using Sudan I as the template, 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES) as the monomer, and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as the crosslinker. Due to fluorescence resonance energy transfer, quenching occurred when CDs@SiO2@MIPs combined with Sudan I. The established sensor showed excellent recognition and performance for Sudan I with a wide linear range (1 to 120 & mu;M) and low detection limit (0.61 & mu;M). Furthermore, the sensor was successfully applied to determine Sudan I in chili powder and ketchup with recoveries from 89.7 to 101.7%. This work provides broad applications of fluorescence sensors based on CDs@SiO2@MIPs for the rapid analysis of food.