A highly selective and sensitive turn-on fluorescent probe for the detection of Al3+ and its bioimaging

Luminescence. 2017 Aug;32(5):779-785. doi: 10.1002/bio.3251. Epub 2016 Dec 13.

Abstract

A novel fluorescent sensor, 1-((2-hydroxynaphthalen-1-yl)methylene)urea (ocn) has been designed and applied as a highly selective and sensitive fluorescent probe for recognition of Al3+ in Tris-HCl (pH = 7.20) solution. The probe ocn exhibits an excellent selectivity to Al3+ over other examined metal ions, anions and amino acids with a prominent fluorescence 'turn-on' at 438 nm. ocn binds to Al3+ with a 2:1 binding stoichiometry and the detection limit was 0.3 μM. Furthermore, its capability of biological application was evaluated and the results showed that the sensor could be used to detect Al3+ in living cells.

Keywords: Al3+ detection; bioimaging; chemosensor; naphthaldehyde derivative.

MeSH terms

  • Aluminum / analysis*
  • Binding Sites
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Fluorescent Dyes / chemical synthesis
  • Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry*
  • Fluorescent Dyes / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Limit of Detection
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Metals
  • Molecular Imaging / methods
  • Naphthalenes
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence / methods*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
  • Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
  • Urea / analogs & derivatives

Substances

  • 1-((2-hydroxynaphthalen-1-yl)methylene)urea
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Metals
  • Naphthalenes
  • Urea
  • Aluminum