Clioquinol (CQ) is not only used to treat skin diseases, but also CQ is a potential pharmaceutical for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. However, only a few researches report the detection of CQ. Thus, it is of great significance to accurately quantify CQ. Herein, we developed a CQ fluorescent sensor by Cu²⁺ and carbon dots (CDs). Cu²⁺ adsorbed on the surface of CDs preventing the non-radiative recombination of the holes in the valence band and the excited electrons in the CDs conduction band, which brings about an increase in the fluorescence intensity of CDs. However, a complex is formed owing to the strong affinity with Cu²⁺ and CQ causing that Cu²⁺ is disrobed from the CDs surface and then it quenched the fluorescence of CDs through inner filter effect (IFE). The CDs + Cu²⁺ system displays preferable sensitivity and high selectivity toward CQ in a range of 40.0–400.0 μmol L⁻¹ with a detection limit of 4.7 μmol L⁻¹. In addition, the strategy is employed for the quantification of CQ in clioquinol cream with satisfactory results.

Clioquinol (CQ) 不仅用于治疗皮肤病，而且 CQ 是治疗神经退行性疾病的潜在药物。然而，只有少数研究报告了 CQ 的检测。因此，准确量化CQ具有重要意义。在此，我们开发了一种由 Cu ²⁺和碳点 (CD) 组成的 CQ 荧光传感器。吸附在CDs表面的Cu ²⁺阻止了价带空穴和CDs导带激发电子的非辐射复合，导致CDs荧光强度增加。然而，由于与 Cu ²⁺和 CQ的强亲和力形成复合物，导致 Cu ²⁺从 CDs 表面脱附，然后通过内部过滤效应 (IFE) 淬灭 CDs 的荧光。CDs + Cu ²⁺系统在40.0-400.0 μmol L ^-1范围内对CQ 显示出较好的灵敏度和高选择性，检测限为4.7 μmol L ^-1。此外，该策略用于定量氯碘羟喹乳膏中的 CQ，结果令人满意。