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Construction of unconventional fluorescent poly(amino ester) polyols as sensing platform for label-free detection of Fe3+ ions and l-cysteine

  • Polymers
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Abstract

Inspired by the chromogenic reaction of itaconic anhydride and tertiary amine, fluorescent poly(amino ester) polyols are designed and synthesized by melt polycondensation of itaconic anhydride and triethanolamine. The obtained polymers contain no conventional conjugated fluorophores and still display bright fluorescence and good water solubility. The unconventional fluorescence is speculated to be due to the clusters of oxidized tertiary amines and carbonyl groups. Interestingly, the fluorescent polymers exhibit selective sensitivity to specific metal ions, which quench the fluorescence of the polymers. When various metal ions including Na+, Mg2+, Al3+, K+, Ca2+, Mn2+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, Ba2+ and Pb2+ are added to the aqueous polymer solution, only Fe3+ ions decrease dramatically the fluorescence intensity of the polymer solution. Meanwhile, the quenched fluorescence can be recovered by adding l-cysteine. Therefore, the fluorescent polymers can be applied as new sensing platform for label-free detection of Fe3+ ions and l-cysteine.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.51773120), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong (Grant Nos. 2014A030313559, 2016A030313050, 2017A030310045), the National Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province for Vertical Coordination Project (No. 201642), the Nanshan District Key Lab for Biopolymers and Safety Evaluation (No. KC2014ZDZJ0001A) the Science and Technology Project of Shenzhen City (Grant Nos. JCYJ20170412105034748, CYZZ20150827160341635, and ZDSYS201507141105130), and the Top Talent Launch Scientific Research Projects of Shenzhen (827-000133).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, 518060, People’s Republic of China

    Heng Chen, Wei Dai, Junxian Huang & Shaojun Chen

  2. State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics and Center for Molecular Imaging and Translational Medicine, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, 361005, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaohui Yan

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  1. Heng Chen
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  2. Wei Dai
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  3. Junxian Huang
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  4. Shaojun Chen
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Correspondence to Shaojun Chen or Xiaohui Yan.

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Chen, H., Dai, W., Huang, J. et al. Construction of unconventional fluorescent poly(amino ester) polyols as sensing platform for label-free detection of Fe3+ ions and l-cysteine. J Mater Sci 53, 15717–15725 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2716-3

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