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Selective and sensitive detection of cyanate using 3-amino-2-naphthoic acid-based turn-on fluorescence probe

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Abstract

The cyanate anion (CNO−), formed spontaneously within cells from urea and carbamoyl phosphate, usually functions as a biomarker of some diseases such as chronic kidney disease. Therefore, accurate determination of CNO− is highly demanded. Herein, a 3-amino-2-naphthoic acid-based “turn-on” fluorescence probe was developed for specific detection of CNO−. Upon the addition of sodium cyanate, the weak-fluorescent 3-amino-2-naphthoic acid could react with CNO−, which triggered intense emission of green fluorescence. And up to 9-fold fluorescence enhancement was observed. The fluorescence enhancement ratios displayed a good linear relationship with the concentrations of CNO− in the range of 0.5–200 μM. The high selectivity and sensitivity for CNO− detection were investigated with the detection limit as low as 260 nM. The probe was further successfully applied to determine CNO− in real samples such as tap water, human urine and serum samples, which offered a promising approach in practical applications.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. Baoxue Yang (Peking University Health Center) for nice suggestions. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 21672015 and 21708001), National Major Scientific and Technological Special Project for “Significant New Drugs Development” (Grant No. 2017ZX09303013) as well as China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2018 M631272).

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Author notes

  1. Jie Feng and Jiale Zhong contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, The School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, No. 38, Xueyuan Rd., Beijing, 100191, China

    Jie Feng, Jiale Zhong & Xinjing Tang

Authors
  1. Jie Feng
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  2. Jiale Zhong
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  3. Xinjing Tang
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Correspondence to Xinjing Tang.

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All human studies were approved by the Peking University Institutional Review Board Office. All human urine samples are supplied by the healthy volunteers with their informed consent.

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Feng, J., Zhong, J. & Tang, X. Selective and sensitive detection of cyanate using 3-amino-2-naphthoic acid-based turn-on fluorescence probe. Anal Bioanal Chem 411, 3613–3619 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-01843-w

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