Development of a green simple molecularly imprinted nanoprobe for rapid determination of trace thiamphenicol residual in animal derived foods

An environmentally friendly nitrogen-sulfur-doped carbon quantum dots molecularly imprinted fluorescent probe (N,S-CDs@MIP) was prepared for the detection of thiamphenicol (TAP) in animal-derived foods. The N,S-CDs, the core fluorophores in optical sensors, were synthesized from food waste of crayfish shells and l-cysteine and assembled to molecularly imprinted layers by Si–O–Si bond. The fluorescence produced by the novel probe in response to TAP ranged from 10.00 to 300.0 μg/L, with a detection limit of 6.20 μg/L. The developed method was also successfully applied to real milk, fish and tap water with 92.08–108.4% recoveries, which agrees with the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis (89.15%–110.7%). The developed probe is cheap with a short detection time (30 min) and provides a theoretical and practical operation basis for monitoring TAP residue levels.