Twenty natural amino acids identification by a photochromic sensor chip

All 20 natural amino acids identification shows crucial importance in biochemistry and clinical application while it is still a challenge due to highly similarity in molecular configuration of the amino acids. Low efficiency, complicated sensing molecules and environment hindered the successful identification. Here, we developed a facile sensor chip composed of one photochromic molecule with metal ions spotted to form spirooxazine-metallic complexes, and successfully recognized all the 20 natural amino acids as well as their mixtures. The sensor chip gives distinct fluorescent fingerprint pattern of each amino acid, based on multistate of spirooxazine under different light stimulations and discriminated interaction between various metal ions and amino acids. The sensor chip demonstrates powerful capability of amino acids identification, which promotes sensing of biomolecules.