Abstract
In the current study, we reported a novel label-free and facile colorimetric approach for the sequential detection of copper ion (Cu2+), l-arginine (Arg), and l-cysteine (Cys) in the H2O (10.0 mmol L−1 HEPES buffer solution, pH 7.0) using Reactive Blue 4 (RB4). First, the presence of Cu2+ led to a naked-eye color and spectral changes according to the binding site-signaling subunit approach. Then, the RB4-Cu2+ complex was successfully applied for Cys and Arg through different recognition pathways. The optical signals for Arg were observed due to its association involving the amino group, as well as the participation of the carboxylate group in a bidentate form to the complex, while selective behavior for Cys was explained by a metal displacement mechanism. The limits of detection for Cu2+, Arg, and Cys were calculated to be 1.96, 1.06, and 1.33 μmol L−1, respectively. It could also be employed for the determination of three analytes in environmental, biological, and pharmaceutical samples. Importantly, the test strips based on RB4-Cu2+ complex could be used as a solid-state sensor for the detection of Cys and Arg. In addition, NAND and IMPLICATION molecular logic gates were obtained by using chemical inputs and UV-Vis absorbance signal as the output.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Steed, J. W. (2009). Coordination and organometallic compounds as anion receptors and sensors. Chemical Society Reviews, 38, 506–519.
Gruber, B., Stadlbauer, S., Spath, A., Weiss, S., Kalinina, M., & Konig, B. (2010). Modular chemosensors from self-assembled vesicle membranes with amphiphilic binding sites and reporter dyes. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 49, 7125–7128.
Li, S.-H., Yu, C.-W., & Xu, J.-G. (2005). A cyclometalated palladium-azo complex as a differential chromogenic probe for amino acids in aqueous solution. Chemical Communications, 4, 450–452.
Li, G., Chen, Y., Wu, J., Ji, L., & Chao, H. (2013). Thiol-specific phosphorescent imaging in living cells with an azobis(2,2[prime or minute]-bipyridine)-bridged dinuclear iridium(iii) complex. Chemical Communications, 49, 2040–2042.
Fernandez-Moreira, V., Thorp-Greenwood, F. L., & Coogan, M. P. (2010). Application of d6 transition metal complexes in fluorescence cell imaging. Chemical Communications, 46, 186–202.
Gupta, V. K., Mergu, N., Kumawat, L. K., & Singh, A. K. (2015). Selective naked-eye detection of magnesium (II) ions using a coumarin-derived fluorescent probe. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 207, 216–223.
Gupta, V. K., Singh, A. K., & Kumawat, L. K. (2014). Thiazole Schiff base turn-on fluorescent chemosensor for Al3+ ion. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 195, 98–108.
Wang, J., Liu, H.-B., Tong, Z., & Ha, C.-S. (2015). Fluorescent/luminescent detection of natural amino acids by organometallic systems. Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 303, 139–184.
Jang, Y. K., Nam, U. C., Kwon, H. L., Hwang, I. H., & Kim, C. (2013). A selective colorimetric and fluorescent chemosensor based-on naphthol for detection of Al3+ and Cu2+. Dyes and Pigments, 99, 6–13.
Xu, X., Zhang, N., Brown, G. M., Thundat, T. G., & Ji, H. F. (2017). Ultrasensitive detection of cu(2+) using a micro cantilever sensor modified with L-cysteine self-assembled monolayer. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 183(2), 555–565.
Fu, Y., Feng, Q.-C., Jiang, X.-J., Xu, H., Li, M., & Zang, S.-Q. (2014). New fluorescent sensor for Cu2+ and S2− in 100% aqueous solution based on displacement approach. Dalton Transactions, 43(15), 5815–5822.
Li, M., Jiang, X.-J., Wu, H.-H., Lu, H.-L., Li, H.-Y., Xu, H., Zang, S.-Q., & Mak, T. C. W. (2015). A dual functional probe for "turn-on" fluorescence response of Pb2+ and colorimetric detection of Cu2+ based on a rhodamine derivative in aqueous media. Dalton Transactions, 44(39), 17326–17334.
Gupta, V. K., Ganjali, M. R., Norouzi, P., Khani, H., Nayak, A., & Agarwal, S. (2011). Electrochemical analysis of some toxic metals by ion-selective electrodes. Critical Reviews in Analytical Chemistry, 41(4), 282–313.
Gupta, V. K., Singh, L. P., Singh, R., Upadhyay, N., Kaur, S. P., & Sethi, B. (2012). A novel copper (II) selective sensor based on dimethyl 4, 4′ (o-phenylene) bis(3-thioallophanate) in PVC matrix. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 174, 11–16.
Dudev, T., & Lim, C. (2008). Metal binding affinity and selectivity in metalloproteins: Insights from computational studies. Annual Review of Biophysics, 37, 97–116.
Borase, H. P., Patil, C. D., Salunkhe, R. B., Suryawanshi, R. K., Kim, B. S., Bapat, V. A., & Patil, S. V. (2015). Bio-functionalized silver nanoparticles: A novel colorimetric probe for cysteine detection. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 175(7), 3479–3493.
Yin, C., Huo, F., Zhang, J., Martinez-Manez, R., Yang, Y., Lv, H., & Li, S. (2013). Thiol-addition reactions and their applications in thiol recognition. Chemical Society Reviews, 42, 6032–6059.
Zhou, Y., & Yoon, J. (2012). Recent progress in fluorescent and colorimetric chemosensors for detection of amino acids. Chemical Society Reviews, 41, 52–67.
Li, Y., Sun, M., Zhang, K., Zhang, Y., Yan, Y., Lei, K., Wu, L., Yu, H., & Wang, S. (2017). A near-infrared fluorescent probe for Cu2+ in living cells based on coordination effect. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 243, 36–42.
Jiang, H., Li, Z., Kang, Y., Ding, L., Qiao, S., Jia, S., Luo, W., & Liu, W. (2017). A two-photon fluorescent probe for Cu2+ based on dansyl moiety and its application in bioimaging. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 242, 112–117.
Huang, J., Liu, M., Ma, X., Dong, Q., Ye, B., Wang, W., & Zeng, W. (2014). A highly selective turn-off fluorescent probe for Cu(ii) based on a dansyl derivative and its application in living cell imaging. RSC Advances, 4(44), 22964–22970.
Li, Q., Guo, Y., & Shao, S. (2012). A BODIPY based fluorescent chemosensor for Cu(II) ions and homocysteine/cysteine. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 171-172, 872–877.
Wang, L., Du, J., & Cao, D. (2014). A colorimetric fluorescent chemodosimeter based on diketopyrrolopyrrole and 1,3-indanedione for cysteine detection and cellular imaging in living cells. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 205, 281–288.
Lin, Q., Huang, Y., Fan, J., Wang, R., & Fu, N. (2013). A squaraine and Hg2+-based colorimetric and “turn on” fluorescent probe for cysteine. Talanta, 114, 66–72.
Zhang, Y., Yao, W., Liang, D., Sun, M., Wang, S., & Huang, D. (2018). Selective detection and quantification of tryptophan and cysteine with pyrenedione as a turn-on fluorescent probe. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 259, 768–774.
Shang, X., Du, J., Yang, W., Liu, Y., Fu, Z., Wei, X., Yan, R., Yao, N., Guo, Y., Zhang, J., & Xu, X. (2014). The development and amino acid binding ability of nano-materials based on azo derivatives: Theory and experiment. Materials Science and Engineering: C, 38, 101–106.
Jain, R., Gupta, V. K., Jadon, N., & Radhapyari, K. (2010). Voltammetric determination of cefixime in pharmaceuticals and biological fluids. Analytical Biochemistry: Methods in the Biological Sciences, 407, 79–88.
Gupta, V. K., Nayak, A., Agarwal, S., & Singhal, B. (2011). Recent advances on potentiometric membrane sensors for pharmaceutical analysis. Combinatorial Chemistry & High Throughput Screening, 14(4), 284–302.
Gupta, V. K., Kumar, S., Singh, R., Singh, L. P., Shoora, S. K., & Sethi, B. (2014). Cadmium (II) ion sensing through p-tert-butyl calix[6]arene based potentiometric sensor. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 195, 65–68.
Xu, M., Rao, Z., Xu, H., Lan, C., Dou, W., Zhang, X., Xu, H., Jin, J., & Xu, Z. (2011). Enhanced production of L-arginine by expression of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin using a novel expression system in Corynebacterium crenatum. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 163(6), 707–719.
Touhami, N., Buhl, K., Schmidt-Heydt, M., & Geisen, R. (2016). Arginine acts as an inhibitor of the biosynthesis of several mycotoxins. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 235, 46–52.
El-Sadek, A. E., Behery, E. G., Azab, A. A., Kamal, N. M., Salama, M. A., Abdulghany, W. E., & Abdallah, E. A. (2016). Arginine dimethylation products in pediatric patients with chronic kidney disease. Annals of Medicine and Surgery, 9, 22–27.
Stasyuk, N., Gayda, G., Yepremyan, H., Stepien, A., & Gonchar, M. (2017). Fluorometric enzymatic assay of l-arginine. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 170, 184–190.
Chen, X., Lv, Y., Zhang, Y., Zhao, J., & Sun, L. (2016). A simple but efficient electrochemical method to assay protein arginine deiminase 4. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 227, 43–47.
Hroch, M., Havlínová, Z., Nobilis, M., & Chládek, J. (2012). HPLC determination of arginases inhibitor N-(ω)-hydroxy-nor-l-arginine using core–shell particle column and LC–MS/MS identification of principal metabolite in rat plasma. Journal of Chromatography B, 880, 90–99.
Xie, C., Xu, N., Shao, Y., & He, Y. (2015). Using FT-NIR spectroscopy technique to determine arginine content infermented Cordyceps sinensis mycelium. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 149, 971–977.
Shahida Parveen, S. D., Affrose, A., & Pitchumani, K. (2015). Plumbagin as colorimetric and ratiometric sensor for arginine. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 221, 521–527.
Bhosale, R. S., Shitre, G. V., Kumar, R., Biradar, D. O., Bhosale, S. V., Narayan, R., & Bhosale, S. V. (2017). A 8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid trisodium salt (HPTS) based colorimetric and green turn-on fluorescent sensor for the detection of arginine and lysine in aqueous solution. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 241, 1270–1275.
Rawat, K. A., & Kailasa, S. K. (2016). 4-Amino nicotinic acid mediated synthesis of gold nanoparticles for visual detection of arginine, histidine, methionine and tryptophan. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 222, 780–789.
Zhang, Z., Wei, T., Chen, Y., Chen, T., Chi, B., Wang, F., & Chen, X. (2018). A polydiacetylenes-based colorimetric and fluorescent probe for l-arginine and l-lysine and its application for logic gate. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 255, 2211–2217.
Jiang, X. J., Li, M., Lu, H. L., Xu, L. H., Xu, H., Zang, S. Q., Tang, M. S., Hou, H. W., & Mak, T. C. (2014). A highly sensitive C3-symmetric Schiff-base fluorescent probe for Cd2+. Inorganic Chemistry, 53(24), 12665–12667.
Jiang, X.-J., Fu, Y., Tang, H., Zang, S.-Q., Hou, H.-W., Mak, T. C. W., & Zhang, H.-Y. (2014). A new highly selective fluorescent sensor for detection of Cd2+ and Hg2+ based on two different approaches in aqueous solution. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 190, 844–850.
Dai, X., Du, Z. F., Wang, L. H., Miao, J. Y., & Zhao, B. X. (2016). A quick response fluorescent probe based on coumarin and quinone for glutathione and its application in living cells. Analytica Chimica Acta, 922, 64–70.
Nasirizadeh, N., Shekari, Z., Tabatabaee, M., & Ghaani, M. (2015). Simultaneous determination of ascorbic acid, L-Dopa, uric acid, insulin, and acetylsalicylic acid on Reactive Blue 19 and multi-wall carbon nanotube modified glassy carbon electrode. Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society, 26, 713–722.
Nasirizadeh, N., Shekari, Z., Nazari, A., & Tabatabaee, M. (2016). Fabrication of a novel electrochemical sensor for determination of hydrogen peroxide in different fruit juice samples. Journal of Food and Drug Analysis, 24, 72–82.
Tavallali, H., Deilamy-Rad, G., Parhami, A., & Kiyani, S. (2014). Dithizone as novel and efficient chromogenic probe for cyanide detection in aqueous media through nucleophilic addition into diazenylthione moiety. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 121, 139–146.
National standard of the People’s Republic of China. National food safety standards of food additives-L-arginine (2012).
Maleki, N., Haghighi, B., & Safavi, A. (1999). Evaluation of formation constants, molar Absorptivities of metal complexes, and protonation constants of acids by nonlinear curve fitting using Microsoft excel solver and user-defined function. Microchemical Journal, 62, 229–236.
Benesi, H. A., & Hildebrand, J. H. (1949). A spectrophotometric investigation of the interaction of iodine with aromatic hydrocarbons. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 71, 2703–2707.
Berthon, G. (1995). Critical evaluation of the stability constants of metal complexes of amino acids with polar side chains (technical report). Pure and Applied Chemistry, 67, 1117–1240.
Petrovic, M. B., Radovanovic, M. B., Simonovic, A. T., & Milic, S. M. (2012). The effect of cysteine on the behaviour of copper in neutral and alkaline sulphate solutions. International Journal of Electrochemical Science, 7, 9043–9057.
Fitch, C. A., Platzer, G., Okon, M., Garcia-Moreno, B. E., & McIntosh, L. P. (2015). Arginine: Its pKa value revisited. Protein Science, 24, 752–761.
Yuen, C., Ku, S., & Choi, P. (2005). Determining functional groups of commercially available ink-jet printing reactive dyes using infrared spectroscopy. Research Journal of Textile and Apparel, 9, 26–38.
Tang, X.-L., Dou, W., Chen, S.-W., Dang, F.-F., & Liu, W.-S. (2007). Synthesis, infrared and fluorescence spectra of lanthanide complexes with a new amide-based 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 68, 349–353.
Melnikov, P., Corbi, P. P., Diaz Aguila, C., Zacharias, M. A., Cavicchioli, M. C., & Massabni, A. C. (2000). Iron(II) djenkolate: synthesis and properties. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 307, 179–183.
Kumar, S., & Rai, S. B. (2010). Spectroscopic studies of L-arginine molecule. Indian Journal of Pure & Applied Physics, 48, 251–255.
de Farias, R. F., Martínez, L., & Airoldi, C. (2002). A calorimetric investigation into copper–arginine and copper–alanine solid state interactions. Transition Metal Chemistry, 27, 253–255.
Feng, L., Lyu, Z., Offenhausser, A., & Mayer, D. (2015). Multi-level logic gate operation based on amplified aptasensor performance. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 54, 7693–7697.
Angelos, S., Yang, Y. W., Khashab, N. M., Stoddart, J. F., & Zink, J. I. (2009). Dual-controlled nanoparticles exhibiting AND logic. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 131, 11344–11346.
Kim, T. K. (2015). T test as a parametric statistic. Korean Journal of Anesthesiology, 68, 540–546.
Ou, X.-x., Jin, Y.-l., Chen, X.-q., Gong, C.-b., Ma, X.-b., Wang, Y.-s., Chow, C.-f., & Tang, Q. (2015). Colorimetric test paper for cyanide ion determination in real-time. Analytical Methods, 7, 5239–5244.
Gupta, V. K., Mergu, N., Kumawat, L. K., & Singh, A. K. (2015). A reversible fluorescence “off–on–off” sensor for sequential detection of aluminum and acetate/fluoride ions. Talanta, 144, 80–89.
Ding, H., Li, B., Pu, S., Liu, G., Jia, D., & Zhou, Y. (2017). A fluorescent sensor based on a diarylethene-rhodamine derivative for sequentially detecting Cu2+ and arginine and its application in keypad lock. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 247, 26–35.
He, L., So, V. L. L., & Xin, J. H. (2014). A new rhodamine-thiourea/Al3+ complex sensor for the fast visual detection of arginine in aqueous media. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 192, 496–502.
Xue, Z., Wang, X., Rao, H., Liu, X., & Lu, X. (2017). A colorimetric sensor of cysteine based on self-assembly nanostructures of Fe3+-H2O2/Tetramethylbenzidine system with “on-off” switching function. Analytical Biochemistry, 534, 1–9.
Xue, Z., Fu, X., Rao, H., Hassan Ibrahim, M., Xiong, L., Liu, X., & Lu, X. (2017). A colorimetric indicator-displacement assay for cysteine sensing based on a molecule-exchange mechanism. Talanta, 174, 667–672.
Lee, S. A., Lee, J. J., Shin, J. W., Min, K. S., & Kim, C. (2015). A colorimetric chemosensor for the sequential detection of copper(II) and cysteine. Dyes and Pigments, 116, 131–138.
You, G. R., Lee, J. J., Choi, Y. W., Lee, S. Y., & Kim, C. (2016). Experimental and theoretical studies for sequential detection of copper(II) and cysteine by a colorimetric chemosensor. Tetrahedron, 72, 875–881.
Wei, X., Qi, L., Tan, J., Liu, R., & Wang, F. (2010). A colorimetric sensor for determination of cysteine by carboxymethyl cellulose-functionalized gold nanoparticles. Analytica Chimica Acta, 671, 80–84.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of this work by Payame Noor University Research Council (Shiraz, Iran).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Hossein Tavallali designed the research, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. Gohar Deilamy – Rad and Narges Mosallanejad analyzed the data. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Electronic supplementary material
ESM 1
(DOCX 453 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tavallali, H., Deilamy-Rad, G. & Mosallanejad, N. Reactive Blue 4 as a Single Colorimetric Chemosensor for Sequential Determination of Multiple Analytes with Different Optical Responses in Aqueous Media: Cu2+-Cysteine Using a Metal Ion Displacement and Cu2+-Arginine Through the Host-Guest Interaction. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 187, 913–937 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-018-2796-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-018-2796-1