Spectrophotofluorometric Study of Amaranth with
Fluorescent Carbon Dots and its Analytical Application
Hydrothermal carbonization of bottle gourd as the carbon source has been performed to synthesize fluorescent carbon dots . The carbon dots were formed in the form of yellow brown aqueous solution, soluble in water and stable towards light. Characterization of fluorescent carbon dots was done using TEM, UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. Spectrophotofluorometric method has been followed for the study of common food colorant Amaranth present in foodstuffs using fluorescent carbon dots. Conditions optimized during analysis were reaction pH, concentration of Amaranth, concentration of C-dots, thermal effect, time period, etc. Results showed that Amaranth could result in fluorescence quenching of carbon dots due to interaction of surface –COOH, –SO3H group with Amaranth dye. The present method offers good linear range of 0.20-25.0 μM with LOD 0.019 μM and highly selective and therefore, method have been applied successfully for the detection of Amaranth in foodstuffs.