Luminescent nucleotide/Tb coordination polymer for Fe() detection in human serum

Metal-organic coordination polymers (CPs) have emerged as attractive functional nanomaterials because of their flexible composition and diverse architecture. Herein, we designed and synthesized a luminescent sensing nucleotide/Tb 3+ CP, utilizing the self-assembly of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as a biomolecule, Tb 3+ as a luminescent ion, and 1,10-phenanthroline (Phen) as a cofactor ligand. The switched-on luminescence of ATP-Tb with Phen as a sensitizer was due to the removal of coordinating water molecules and the concomitant Phen-to-Tb 3+ energy transfer. Employing Phen as a recognition unit with a high affinity to Fe 2+ , the configured ATP-Tb-Phen CP exhibited high sensitivity and selectivity to Fe 2+ . The decrease of luminescence intensity was linearly correlated with the Fe 2+ concentration in the range of 20 nM to 1.5 μM, with a detection limit of 20 nM. More importantly, a long luminescence lifetime of the ATP-Tb-Phen CP allowed time-resolved fluorimetric detection of Fe 2+ ions in human serum, and can highly enhance its sensitivity by eliminating the background signal. Thus, our results indicate that metal-organic CPs are well suited for designing smart sensing materials, and feature unique advantages for the sensing of certain analytes. A luminescent nucleotide/Tb 3+ coordination polymer (CP) was synthesized using adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecules as a bridge ligand and Phen as a sensitizer, which showed high sensitivity and selectivity for Fe 2+ .