Ratiometric fluorescence detection of sulfide ions based on lanthanide coordination polymer using guanosine diphosphate as ligand

The efficiency of energy transfer from guanine nucleotide to terbium ion (Tb3+) is affected by the phosphate group significantly. Compared with the biomolecules 5'-GMP (guanosine monophosphate), guanosine diphosphate (GDP) exhibits better sensitize ability to Tb3+ ions luminescence. Assisted with the carboxycoumarin ligand, we synthesized a more stable optical Coumarin@GDP-Tb polymer with the characteristic emission peaks located on 440 nm and 545 nm in this work. The Coumarin@GDP-Tb polymer is not only rich in metal binding sites, but also maintains a moderate ionic binding force, which helps metal ions to bind or leave it easily. Experiment result shows that Coumarin@GDP-Tb polymer has the appropriate binding force for Fe2+ ions, which can be destroyed by sulfur ions (S2-) as the formation of FeS precipitation. Based on this, Coumarin@GDP-Tb was designed as the ratio fluorescence probe for sulfur ions detection, where the fluorescence at 545 nm can be selectively quenched by Fe2+ ions, while that at 440 nm was unaffected, in the presence of S2- ions, the quenched fluorescence can be recovered remarkably. With the increasing S2- ions from 0.1-45 μM, the ratio of fluorescence intensity at 545 nm to 440 nm (F545/F440) is linear to S2- concentration, and the detection limit of S2- was calculated to be 0.073 μM. Contrast to those fluorescence probes with single wavelength emission, Coumarin@GDP-Tb displays a comparable sensitivity, the introduced self-adjust wavelength improved the detection accuracy efficiently. The above 98.1 % recovery rates of S2- ions in the actual water sample demonstrated the practicability of Coumarin@GDP-Tb fluorescence probe.