Functionalised Graphene Quantum Dots for Cholesterol Detection in Human Blood Serum

The varied applications of nanotechnology have paved way for several breakthroughs in the realm of biomedical technology. In this challenging era when illness multiplies, timely and accurate disease diagnosis is very important. Thus, well founded novel approaches matter very much in areas like disease diagnosis and monitoring. Nanomedicine has tremendous implications in the given context. An elevated cholesterol concentration in blood is risky and is associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). CVD remains the No. 1 global cause of death and hence there is an urge to understand cholesterol level and take preventive measures. Highly fluorescent graphene quantum dots (GQs) are well known for their biocompatibility, non toxicity and aqueous solubility. Here in we report an easy and sensitive non enzymatic based cholesterol detection using digitonin conjugated graphene quantum dots (GDG). Selectivity studies and the cholesterol detection in human blood serum suggests the probe to be reliable and selective for blood cholesterol monitoring. Graphical abstract Digitonin conjugated fluorescent graphene quantumdots, an efficient probe for cholesterol sensing