Bis-Cyanodistyrene Schiff-Base: An Effect Fluorescence Sensor for Arginine in Aqueous Media

Abstract

The selective detection of arginine among all kinds of amino acids is of great significance in in chemical and biological processes but rarely reported. In this work, a simple fluorescence sensor for sensing arginine in aqueous media was developed based on bis-cyanodistyrene Schiff-base (BCS). BCS was prepared by the Schiff-base condensation of amino-cyanodistyrene derivative with bis-benzaldehyde derivative in reasonable yield. BCS possessed high fluorescence in aqueous media and exhibited selectively detection for arginine with dramatic fluorescence quench among all kinds of test species including six common metallic ions and twenty amino acids. The detection limitation for arginine was as low as 1.34×10-7 M. BCS showed the good sensing ability in the scope of pH = 6-9 and the sensing selectivity kept stable under the interference of other species. The sensing mechanism of 1:1 binding stoichiometry ratio was proposed based on the multiple intermolecular hydrogen bonds. The selective sensing ability of BCS for arginine was successfully applied on tested paper and the sample analyses of MinJiang river and adults urine. BCS was further used in the living-cell imaging experiments, suggesting the excellent fluorescence living-cell imaging property and the good the detecting ability for arginine in living-cell environment. This research supplied a novel method for real-time and in-situ sensing arginine in complex environments and living bodies.

Keywords: Sensor, Arginine, fluorescence, Cyanodistyrene, Schiff-base