title: Design and synthesis of a new terbium complex-based luminescent probe for time-resolved luminescence sensing of zinc ions.
abstract: Luminescent probes/chemosensors based on lanthanide complexes have shown great potentials in various bioassays due to their unique long-lived luminescence property for eliminating short-lived autofluorescence with time-resolved detection mode. In this work, we designed and synthesized a new dual-chelating ligand {4'-[N,N-bis(2-picolyl)amino]methylene-2,2':6',2'-terpyridine-6,6'-diyl} bis(methylenenitrilo) tetrakis(acetic acid) (BPTTA), and investigated the performance of its Tb(3+) complex (BPTTA-Tb(3+)) for the time-resolved luminescence sensing of Zn(2+) ions in aqueous media. Weakly luminescent BPTTA-Tb(3+) can rapidly react with Zn(2+) ions to display remarkable luminescence enhancement with high sensitivity and selectivity, and such luminescence response can be realized repeatedly. Laudably, the dose-dependent luminescence enhancement shows a good linear response to the concentration of Zn(2+) ions with a detection limit of 4.1 nM. To examine the utility of the new probe for detecting intracellular Zn(2+) ions, the performance of BPTTA-Tb(3+) in the time-resolved luminescence imaging of Zn(2+) ions in living HeLa cells was investigated. The results demonstrated the applicability of BPTTA-Tb(3+) as a probe for the time-resolved luminescence sensing of intracellular Zn(2+) ions.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Yunna
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Jingli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yuan
mesh_terms: D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D007477:Ions / Q000032:analysis; D049449:Luminescence; D049408:Luminescent Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D013725:Terbium / Q000737:chemistry*; D013997:Time Factors; D015032:Zinc / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; D049408:Luminescent Agents; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D013725:Terbium; D015032:Zinc