A sensitive and selective chemosensor for GSSG detection based on the recovered fluorescence of NDPA-Fe₃O₄@SiO₂-Cu(II) nanomaterial.

A sensitive and selective sensor for oxidized glutathione (GSSG) detection based on the recovered fluorescence of naphthalimide-DPA (NDPA)-Fe₃O₄@SiO₂-Cu(II) system is reported. NDPA-Fe3Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ was characterized by X-ray power diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR) and fluorophotometry. The fluorescence of NDPA-Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ could be quenched by Cu²⁺ due to the coordination of Cu²⁺ with the tridentate receptor DPA. This coordination process reduced the electron-donating ability of the nitrogen atom in the DPA moiety, thus suppressing the internal charge transfer (ICT) process in NDPA-Fe₃O₄@SiO₂. In the presence of GSSG, the fluorescence of NDPA-Fe₃O₄@SiO₂-Cu(II) was recovered because of strong coordination of Cu²⁺ with GSSG, which promoted the decomplexation between NDPA-Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ and Cu²⁺, and enhanced the ICT process. The NDPA-Fe₃O₄@SiO₂-Cu(II) nanomaterial exhibited high sensitivity towards GSSG, and a good linear relationship was obtained from 5 nM to 60 μM. The limit of detection, based on a signal-to-noise ratio of 3, was 50 pM. In addition, the presence of magnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) in NDPA-Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ NPs would also facilitate the magnetic separation of NDPA-Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ from the solution. Through the use of added internal standards, we successfully determined the concentration of GSSG in HEK 293 cell lysate to be 1.15 μM by the prepared chemsensor NDPA-Fe₃O₄@SiO₂-Cu(II). The proposed method is anticipated to fabricate other sensitive fluorescence sensors based on organic-inorganic hybrid magnetic nanoparticles.