A water-soluble carboxylic-functionalized chemosensor for detecting Al(3+) in aqueous media and living cells:
Jae Jun Lee1, Gyeong Jin Park1, Yong Sung Kim1
1Department of Fine Chemistry and Department of Interdisciplinary Bio IT Materials, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul 139-743, Korea.
Abstract:
A new water-soluble carboxylic-functionalized chemosensor 1 was designed and synthesized. 1 exhibited the selective fluorescence enhancement toward aluminum ions with a 1:1 complexation stoichiometry in aqueous solution. The detection limit (24nM) of 1 for Al(3+) is about two order lower than the WHO guideline (7.41μM) for the drinking water. 1 was successfully applied to living cells and real samples for detecting Al(3+). Moreover, the sensing mechanism originated from the inhibited excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process and the chelation-enhanced fluorescence (CHEF) effect, as supported by theoretical calculations.
