Sains Malaysiana 49(11)(2020): 2735-2744

http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2020-4911-12

A Tyrosine-Based Nanosensor for Rapid Sensitive Detection of Copper (II) Ions

(Pengesan Nano Berasaskan Tirosina untuk Pengesanan Sensitif Pantas Ion Tembaga (II))

JIAQI LIAN^1,2, PANDENG MIAO^2,3, NA LI^2,3, ABDUL JAMIL KHAN², XIANG JI¹* & FENG ZHANG^1,2,4

¹School of Life Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou 014010, P. R. China

²Biomedical Nanocenter, School of Life Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, P. R. China

³Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System, Terahertz Science Cooperative Innovation Center, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jungong Road, Shanghai 200093, P. R. China

⁴Key Laboratory of Oral Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Oral Disease, Stomatology Hospital, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 511436, P. R. China

Received: 17 January 2020/Accepted: 8 June 2020

ABSTRACT

Most of the chromophores of fluorescent peptides contain aromatic amino acids with conjugated double bonds, among which tyrosine (Y) has become the focus of researches due to its unique physicochemical (optical, redox, and metal chelation) properties. However, there are few studies on the self-assembly and polymerisation of single. This study shows that the phenol group of Y can be oxidized into benzoquinone group in alkaline conditions and then undergoes polymerisation and further self-assembles into nanoparticles (NPs). The product of pY_oxNPs have a strong fluorescence emission peak at 463 nm, and Cu²⁺ can spontaneously bind to it and dramatically quench their fluorescence. Based on these findings, we developed a rapid, sensitive and specific nanosensor for detecting Cu²⁺. When the concentration of Cu²⁺ is within the range of 40 μM - 1 mM, we can obtain a good linear correlation between the fluorescence intensity of pY_oxNPs and the concentration of copper ions, and the limit of detection (LOD) is determined to 37.26 μM. In comparison to other modern methods for sensing Cu²⁺, this method has advantages of simplicity of material synthesis, low cost, robust and rapid in sensing reaction, so we envision a good prospect for Cu²⁺ detection applications in both bulk and harsh environments.

Keywords: Copper ion; fluorescence quenching; oxidation; polymerisation; tyrosine

ABSTRAK

Kebanyakan kromofor peptida pendarfluor mengandungi asid amino aromatik dengan ikatan berganda konjugasi, antaranya tyrosin (Y) telah menjadi tumpuan penyelidikan kerana ciri unik fizikokimianya (optik, redoks dan pengkelatan logam). Walau bagaimanapun, terdapat beberapa kajian mengenai pemasangan diri dan pempolimeran tunggal Y. Dalam kajian ini, kumpulan fenol Y boleh dioksidakan kepada kumpulan benzoquinon dalam keadaan alkali dan kemudian menjalani pempolimeran dan seterusnya menyambung diri ke nanozarah (NPs). pY_oxNPs produk mempunyai puncak pelepasan pendarfluor yang kuat pada 463 nm dan Cu²⁺ secara spontan dapat mengikat mereka dan secara mendadak memadamkan pendarfluor mereka. Berdasarkan penemuan ini, kami membangunkan pengesan nano pesat, sensitif dan khusus untuk mengesan Cu²⁺. Apabila kepekatan Cu²⁺ berada dalam julat 40 μM - 1 mM, kita boleh mendapatkan korelasi linear yang baik antara keamatan pendarfluor pY_oxNPs dan kepekatan ion tembaga, dan had pengesanan (LOD) ditentukan kepada 37.26 μM. Berbanding dengan kaedah moden yang lain untuk mengesan Cu²⁺, ini memperlihatkan kelebihan dalam kesederhanaan sintesis bahan, kos rendah dan mudah diperoleh, cepat dan pantas dalam reaksi penderiaan, jadi kami membayangkan prospek yang baik untuk aplikasi pengesanan Cu²⁺ dalam persekitaran pukal dan mencabar.

Kata kunci: Ion tembaga; pelindapkejutan pendarfluor; pengoksidaan; pempolimeran; tirosina

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*Corresponding author; email: jixiang@imust.cn