Ratiometric fluorescence detection of ciprofloxacin using the terbium-based coordination polymers

Herein, a facile self-assembly through adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and luminol with Tb³⁺ was employed to construct a dual-ligand coordinated AMP-Tb-luminol coordination polymers (CPs), which emitted the typical fluorescence of luminol. Based on the sensitization effect of ciprofloxacin (CIP) on the luminescence of Tb³⁺, a ratiometric sensor was fabricated using the fluorescence of luminol as an inert reference. The fluorescent intensity ratios of Tb³⁺ to that of luminol enhanced linearly with the CIP concentration in the range from 5 nM to 2.5 μM with a lower limit of detection of 2 nM. In addition, the proposed ratiometric fluorescent sensor exhibited high selectivity for CIP, which could also be used to detect CIP in human blood serum (HBS) with satisfactory results. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of using dual-ligand coordination lanthanide (Ln)-based CPs for ratio-metric CIP assay, and this straightforward strategy may open up a new platform for designing the ratio-metric sensors based on the Ln CPs.