Dichloroacetic acid (DCA), an organohalide that present in environmental sample and biological systems, got high attention for its therapeutic potential as the inhibitor of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK), elevated in obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Herein, we developed a Cobalt conjugated carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs/Co) that selectively detect DCA by fluorescence “turn-on” mechanism. Utilizing TEM, DLS, UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopy, the mechanism has been thoroughly elucidated and is attributed to disaggregation induced enhancement (DIE). The limit of detection of the N-CQDs/Co complex is 8.7 µM. The structural characteristics and size of the N-CQDs and N-CQDS/Co complex have been verified using FT-IR, XPS, HRTEM, DLS, EDX have been performed. Additionally, the complex is used to specifically find DCA in the human cell line and in zebrafish.Journal instruction requires a city for affiliations; however, these are missing in affiliation [4]. Please verify if the provided city is correct and amend if necessary.Kharagpur is the city. The address is okay.

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