Sensing of Glucose and Dopamine Using 1,8-Naphthalimide Schiff Base Loaded in Nanoscale Pluronic F127 Micelles

Sensitive detection of biomarkers at trace levels is essential for the early diagnosis of diseases. Glucose and dopamine are critical indicators of many physiological and psychological disorders, highlighting the need for reliable sensing strategies. For this purpose, a 1,8-naphthalimide-based Schiff base (HB) was encapsulated in self-assembled nanoscale micelles of Pluronic F127 to form nanoscale micelles HB@PF127. Structural and chemical features of nanoscale micelles HB@PF127 were characterized by dynamic light scattering, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray, elemental mapping, selected area electron diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction, FT-IR, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and optical spectroscopy. The confined nanoscale dimensions of the obtained micelles HB@PF127 imparted colloidal stability, photostability, high surface-to-volume ratio, and enhanced probe–analyte interactions to micelles, resulting in highly sensitive and rapid sensing response toward glucose and dopamine. As a result, nanoscale micelles HB@PF127 exhibited significant emission enhancement with glucose + glucose oxidase and quenching with dopamine. The detection limits were measured to be 20.68 μM for glucose and 1.03 μM for dopamine, with linear ranges of 68.24–1150 μM and 3.40–1125 μM, respectively. Efficient detection in human serum (recoveries of 84.7–102.4%) demonstrated the potential of these nanoscale micelles HB@PF127 for clinical diagnostics by developing portable test kits out of it.