Self-plasticized, lumogallion-based fluorescent optical sensor for the determination of aluminium (III) with ultra-low detection limits

Lukasz Mendecki; Sergio Granados-Focil; Martin Jendrlin; Matthew Mold; Aleksandar Radu

doi:10.1016/j.aca.2019.12.021

Self-plasticized, lumogallion-based fluorescent optical sensor for the determination of aluminium (III) with ultra-low detection limits

Anal Chim Acta. 2020 Mar 8:1101:141-148. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2019.12.021. Epub 2019 Dec 10.

Authors

Lukasz Mendecki¹, Sergio Granados-Focil², Martin Jendrlin¹, Matthew Mold¹, Aleksandar Radu³

Affiliations

¹ Lennard-Jones Laboratories, Birchall Centre, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, United Kingdom.
² Sackler Sciences Center, Department of Chemistry, Clark University, Worcester, MA, 01610, United States. Electronic address: SGranadosFocil@clarku.edu.
³ Lennard-Jones Laboratories, Birchall Centre, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, United Kingdom. Electronic address: a.radu@keele.ac.uk.

PMID: 32029105
DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2019.12.021

Abstract

Aluminium-selective ion optical sensor based on covalently attached lumogallion methacrylate was synthesized and investigated in this study. Lumogallion based derivatives were copolymerized with various methacrylate monomers via a simple one step free radical polymerization to produce a "self-plasticized" copolymer. We demonstrate that covalently attached lumogallion moieties provide adequate functionality to the optical film thus achieving a very simple, one component sensing membrane. Fluorescence experiments demonstrated excellent sensitivity towards aluminium (III) ions with the detection limits found at 4.8 × 10^-12 M. Furthermore, proposed sensor displays high selectivity towards aluminium over a number of biologically relevant cations. Moreover, the synthesized copolymer was used for the fabrication of nanoparticles that exhibit strong fluorescence upon contact with aluminium (III) ions. It is anticipated that lumogallion-based copolymers may form the basis for the development of highly sensitive and robust aluminium selective sensors capable of in situ measurements.

Keywords: Aluminium; Fluorescence; Lumogallion; Optical sensors.