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Selective ratiometric fluorescence detection of hypochlorite by using aggregation-induced emission dots

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Abstract

The development of simple and effective tools for selective ratiometric detection of hypochlorite (ClO−) is one of the most important goals for elucidating the biofunction of ClO− in associated diseases. However, most developmental probes suffer from the notorious aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect that greatly limits their applications. Herein, we report on novel aggregation-induced emission dots (AIED) for ratiometric detection of ClO− via a co-precipitation strategy. The AIED nanoprobe displayed a ratiometric signal output, which was more promising to minimize the bad environmental factors and simultaneously avoided the ACQ effect. Notably, amphiphilic block copolymer endowed the nanoprobe with stable water dispersibility and easy modification. The as-prepared AIED probe exhibited high sensitivity (~ 89 nM), high selectivity, outstanding photostability, and prominent long-term fluorescence stability. Furthermore, the as-prepared AIED was applied for the visualized fluorescence detection of ClO− and further utilized to detect ClO− in real samples. We expect the nanoprobe to be an outstanding tool to understand ClO−-associated diseases.

Illustration of the probe for the detection of ClO−.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the financial support of the NSFC (51773056, 51603067, 51873058, 21705040, 51373002), Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (2018JJ3143), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017 M622571, 2017 M622568 and 2018 T110824), Open Project Program of State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics (2016019), Open Project Program of Key Laboratory for High Performance and Functional Polymer Materials of Guangdong Province (South China University of Technology) (20160005) and Hunan Provincial Innovation Foundation For Postgraduate (CX2017B622).

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  1. Hong Wang and Yanyang He contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Theoretical Organic Chemistry and Functional Molecule of Ministry of Education, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Controllable Preparation and Functional Application of Fine Polymers, Hunan Province College Key Laboratory of QSAR/QSPR, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, Hunan, China

    Hong Wang, Yanyang He, Yuqi Li, Chonghua Zhang, Peisheng Zhang, Yunfei Long, Shu Chen, Rongjin Zeng & Jian Chen

  2. State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, Hunan, China

    Yanyang He, Chonghua Zhang & Peisheng Zhang

  3. INM-Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany

    Jiaxi Cui

  4. Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, Sichuan, China

    Jiaxi Cui

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  1. Hong Wang
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Wang, H., He, Y., Li, Y. et al. Selective ratiometric fluorescence detection of hypochlorite by using aggregation-induced emission dots. Anal Bioanal Chem 411, 1979–1988 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-01653-0

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