Issue 41, 2015

A peptide-based fluorescent chemosensor for measuring cadmium ions in aqueous solutions and live cells

Abstract

A novel peptide fluorescent chemosensor (H2L) with a lysine backbone and both –NH2 sites conjugated with cysteine and dansyl groups has been designed and synthesized by solid phase peptide synthesis with Fmoc chemistry. This chemosensor is a promising analytical tool for detecting Cd2+ based on the photo-induced electron transfer (PET) effect by turn-on response in 100% aqueous solutions. As designed, H2L exhibits excellent cell permeation and low biotoxicity as well as displaying relatively high selectivity and sensitivity. The chemosensor penetrated live HeLa cells and detected intracellular Cd2+ by turn-on response. The binding stoichiometry and affinity, interference test, pH sensitivity, fluorescence quantum yield, quantum mechanical calculations, lifetimes, and cytotoxicity of the chemosensor H2L to Cd2+ were also investigated. Moreover, H2L exhibits low biotoxicity with a limit of detection (LOD) for Cd2+ of about 52 nM, implying that H2L can be used as a highly selective and sensitive peptide fluorescent chemosensor in biological systems.

Graphical abstract: A peptide-based fluorescent chemosensor for measuring cadmium ions in aqueous solutions and live cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Aug 2015
Accepted
10 Sep 2015
First published
16 Sep 2015

Dalton Trans., 2015,44, 18057-18064

A peptide-based fluorescent chemosensor for measuring cadmium ions in aqueous solutions and live cells

P. Wang, J. Wu, L. Liu, P. Zhou, Y. Ge, D. Liu, W. Liu and Y. Tang, Dalton Trans., 2015, 44, 18057 DOI: 10.1039/C5DT03156G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements