M. Raju, Tapas Patel, Ratish R. Nair
Mar 8, 2016
Citations
0
Influential Citations
9
Citations
Journal
New Journal of Chemistry
Abstract
Xanthurenic acid (H3L), a simple natural molecule and a well known tryptophan metabolite involved in the biosynthesis of quinolobactin siderophore, was developed as an efficient “turn-on” fluorosensor for potassium ions in aqueous HEPES buffer solutions. The natural ionophore, H3L, showed high selectivity for K+ at physiological pH and in the context of interference from other competing metal ions, particularly Na+, the specific response of H3L towards K+ did not change. The detection limit was found to be 53 nM. This study demonstrates the first example in which a non-cyclic system bearing monocarboxylate functionality was used as an efficient fluorosensor for the detection of K+ in water.