Acrylate-guided chemoselective fluorescent detection of arginine and lysine in aqueous media

Arginine (Arg) and lysine (Lys), as two important essential amino acids, are widely used in many fields. Here, a novel fluorescent probe (R)-3 based on 1,1′-binaphthol (BINOL) was synthesized and it could chemoselectively detect Arg and Lys by complexing with zinc ions. The response time of each amino acid only need 1 min. The detection limit of the probe for D-/L-Arg were 60 nM and 123 nM, respectively, and the detection limit for Lys was 53 nM. Mechanistic studies revealed that the chemoselectivity comes from the selective 1,4-Michael addition to the acrylate group of the probe. The probe advantaged in low detection limit, high sensitivity, chemoselectivity and that the fluorescent detection proceeded in aqueous phase. A test strip for rapid detection of arginine was prepared, which gave yellowish color to Arg under natural light and bright yellow to Arg under 254 nm ultraviolet light. The test strip allows rapid detection and easy visualization for Arg.