A Pyrene-based Highly Selective Turn-on Fluorescent Sensor for Copper(II) Ion and its Application in Live Cell Imaging

• Published in: Journal of fluorescence Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 253 - 259
• Main Authors: Wu, Shu-Pao, Huang, Zhen-Ming, Liu, Shi-Rong, Chung, Peter Kun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.01.2012
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Biochemistry; Biological and Medical Physics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Biophysics; Biotechnology; Cell Survival; Chemistry Techniques, Analytical - instrumentation; Copper - analysis; Copper - chemistry; Fluorescent Dyes - chemistry; HeLa Cells; Humans; Molecular Imaging - methods; Original Paper; Pyrenes - chemistry; Spectrometry, Fluorescence; Fluorescence; Chemosensor; Pyrene; Cu; Live cell imaging
• ISSN: 1053-0509; 1573-4994
• DOI: 10.1007/s10895-011-0955-7

A new pyrene derivative (chemosensor 1 ) containing a picolinohydrazide moiety exhibits high selectivity for Cu 2+ ion detection in mixed aqueous media (CH 3 OH:H 2 O = 7:3). Significant fluorescence enhancement was observed with chemosensor 1 in the presence of Cu 2+ . However, the metal ions Ag + , Ca 2+ , Cd 2+ , Co 2+ , Cu 2+ , Fe 2+ , Fe 3+ , Hg 2+ , K + , Mg 2+ , Mn 2+ , Ni 2+ , Pb 2+ , and Zn 2+ produced only minor changes in fluorescence for the system. The apparent association constant ( K a ) of Cu 2+ binding in chemosensor 1 was found to be 2.75*10 3  M −1 . The maximum fluorescence enhancement caused by Cu 2+ binding in chemosensor 1 was observed over the pH range 5–8. Moreover, by means of fluorescence microscopy experiments, it is demonstrated that 1 can be used as a fluorescent probe for detecting Cu 2+ in living cells.