An AIEE Active Anthracene-Based Nanoprobe for Zn<sup>2+</sup> and Tyrosine Detection Validated by Bioimaging Studies

oleh: Muthaiah Shellaiah, Natesan Thirumalaivasan, Basheer Aazaad, Kamlesh Awasthi, Kien Wen Sun, Shu-Pao Wu, Ming-Chang Lin, Nobuhiro Ohta

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-09-01

Deskripsi

Novel anthracene-based Schiff base derivative (4-(anthracen-9-ylmethylene) amino)-5-phenyl-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol; <b>AT2</b>) is synthesized and utilized as an aggregation-induced emission-enhancement (AIEE) active probe to detect Zn<sup>2+</sup> and Tyrosine. Ultraviolet-visible absorption/photoluminescence (UV-vis/PL) spectroscopy studies on the AIEE property of <b>AT2</b> (in ethanol) with increasing water fractions (<i>f<sub>w</sub></i>: 0–97.5%) confirm the <i>J</i>-type aggregation. Excellent sensor selectivity of <b>AT2</b> to Zn<sup>2+</sup> and its reversibility with Tyrosine are demonstrated with PL interrogations. 2:1 and 1:1 stoichiometry and binding sites of <b>AT2</b>-Zn<sup>2+</sup> and Tyrosine-Zn<sup>2+</sup> complexes are elucidated from Job plots, HR-mass, and <sup>1</sup>H-NMR results. Nanomolar-level detection limits (LODs) of Zn<sup>2+</sup> (179 nM) and Tyrosine (667 nM) and association constants (K<sub>a</sub>s) of 2.28 × 10<sup>−6</sup> M<sup>−2</sup> (for <b>AT2</b>-Zn<sup>2+</sup>) and 1.39 × 10<sup>−7</sup> M<sup>−1</sup> (for Tyrosine-Zn<sup>2+</sup>) are determined from standard deviation and linear fittings. Nanofiber formation in AIEE and aggregated/dispersed nanoparticles in the presence of the Zn<sup>2+</sup>/Tyrosine are supported by scanning-electron microscope (SEM), transmission-electron microscope (TEM), atomic-force microscope (AFM), and dynamic-light scattering (DLS) investigations. Density-functional theory (DFT) studies confirm an “On-Off” twisted intramolecular charge transfer/photo-induced electron transfer (TICT/PET) and “On-Off-On” PET mechanisms for AIEE and sensors, respectively. B16-F10 cellular and zebrafish imaging are conducted to support the applications of AIEE and sensors.