Terbium (III)-based Metallacrowns with aggregation-induced emission feature coupled with cu (II) for fluorescence detection of cysteine

The Metallacrowns (MCs) composed of repeated [Metal-N-O] subunits are a type of new material, but the MCs have not been developed and utilized in analytical applications. This essay reports on a new kind of terbium(III)-based Metallacrowns (Tb-MCs) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) feature to build a sensing platform. It is first time that Tb-MCs are able to aggregate to larger aggregates in water along with a bright green emission, so that the property makes it possible to apply in biosensing. Thereafter, the AIE of Tb-MCs can be quenched effectively by Cu 2+ . Based on the high affinity of thiol to Cu 2+ , cysteine (Cys) recovers the fluorescence of Tb-MCs in the presence of Cu 2+ . There is a good linear range varying from 0.02 to 20 μM with a low limit of detection (LOD) 9.67 nM of Cys. In the end, this novel probe is also successfully applied to the determination of Cys in human serum with satisfactory results.