Self-assembled super-small AIEgen nanoprobe for highly sensitive and selective detection of protamine and trypsin?

Analytical Methods Pub Date: 2023-07-06 DOI: 10.1039/D3AY00753G

Abstract

Amphiphilic aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecules show superior potential for fabricating novel ultrasmall nanoprobes. Here, an anionic dipyridyl tetraphenylethene (TPE) derivative is rationally designed and a super-small self-assembled AIEgen nanoprobe (TPE-2Py-SO3NaNPs, ca. 2.48 nm) is thus conveniently constructed for the supersensitive detection of protamine and trypsin. In HEPES/DMSO solution (8?:?2, v/v, pH = 7.4), negatively charged TPE-2Py-SO3NaNPs exhibited an AIE effect in the presence of positively charged protamine, presenting a fluorescence enhancement at 498 nm together with a large Stokes shift of 150 nm and a low detection limit of 8.0 ng mL?1. In addition, the in situ formed TPE-2Py-SO3Na/protamine nanocomposite can be dissociated by trypsin due to the highly selective degradation of protamine via enzymatic hydrolysis, achieving a detection limit for trypsin as low as 5.0 ng mL?1.

Graphical abstract: Self-assembled super-small AIEgen nanoprobe for highly sensitive and selective detection of protamine and trypsin
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