Functionalized novel carbon dots from bell pepper seeds for sustainable green Edoxaban quantification

Global warming and the developed worldwide awareness have persuaded efforts to minimize the generated hazardous wastes. As a result, “green” chemical procedures are being gradually included in science for sustainable development. This concept has been extended and inspired chemists to fabricate novel green carbon dots (CDs) from natural plants. Herein, we represent novel CDs synthesized by recycling seeds obtained from bell pepper as fluorescent probe for the determination of Edoxaban tosylate hydrate (EDO) a non-fluorescent drug; we exploit the advantage of the inner filter effect between the absorption peak of the drug and the emission peak of the CDs. This overlap resulted in quenching the fluorescence of CDs by increasing the concentration of EDO within the range 0.80–20.00 µg/mL with a limit of detection 0.23 and 0.22 µg/mL and a limit of quantitation 0.69 and 0.72 µg/mL for Microwave CDs and Plate CDs, respectively, at λ_ex/λ_em 310/409 nm. Two facile preparation techniques for the CDs were used, the microwave-assisted method and the thermal decomposition method, using a single-step approach. The fabricated CDs were characterized using various techniques, including UV-vis, fluorescence and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies, energy-dispersive X-ray, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, X-ray Diffaction, X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy and zeta potential. The performance of the synthesized fluorescent probe for the determination of EDO was evaluated according to ICH guidelines. The accomplished results, together with the simplicity, sensitivity, and low cost of the developed probe, recommended its appropriateness for the routine quality control assay of EDO pharmaceutical formulation, as good % recovery was obtained upon the investigation of the marketed tablets with 99.77% and 98.79% recoveries for microwave CDs and plate CDs, respectively. The method’s greenness was evaluated using three integral matrices, the Blue Applicability Grade Index, the Complementary Green Analytical Procedure Index and Analytical Eco-Scale.

Graphical abstract