A biomimetic fluorescent chemosensor for highly sensitive zinc(ii) detection and its application for cell imaging

Rui Yan; Zhi Wang; Zongliang Du; Haibo Wang; Xu Cheng; Junjie Xiong

doi:10.1039/c8ra06501b

A biomimetic fluorescent chemosensor for highly sensitive zinc(ii) detection and its application for cell imaging

RSC Adv. 2018 Sep 26;8(58):33361-33367. doi: 10.1039/c8ra06501b. eCollection 2018 Sep 24.

Authors

Rui Yan¹, Zhi Wang², Zongliang Du¹, Haibo Wang¹, Xu Cheng¹, Junjie Xiong³

Affiliations

¹ Textile Institute, College of Light Industry, Textile and Food Engineering, Sichuan University Chengdu 610065 China [email protected].
² State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, Sichuan University Chengdu 610041 China.
³ Department of Pancreatic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University Chengdu 610041 China [email protected].

Abstract

To fabricate a novel biomimetic fluorescent chemosensor, PSaAEMA-co-PMPC was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization, and this copolymer could be used for the detection of zinc(ii) and cell imaging. A series tests with various metal ions verified the specific fluorescence response behavior. This novel biomimetic fluorescent chemosensor exhibits excellent selectivity for Zn²⁺ ions over a wide range of tested metal ions in an aqueous solution. Moreover, cytotoxicity and bio-imaging tests were conducted to study the potential bio-application of the chemosensor. Owing to the biomimetic portion (phosphorylcholine), this copolymer possesses outstanding biocompatibility and could clearly image cells. The results indicated that PSaAEMA-co-PMPC has great potential for application in zinc(ii) detection and cell imaging.