An effect fluorescence sensor for arginine based on bis-cyanodistyrene Schiff-base

The selective detection of arginine among all kinds of amino acids is of great significance but rarely reported. In this work, a simple fluorescence sensor for sensing arginine in near aqueous media was developed based on bis-cyanodistyrene Schiff-base (BCS). BCS was prepared by the Schiff-base condensation of amino-cyanodistyrene derivative and bis-benzaldehyde in yield of 86 %. BCS possessed high fluorescence in near aqueous media and exhibited selective detection for arginine among all kinds of test species including six common metallic ions and twenty amino acids. The detection limitation for arginine was as low as 1.34 × 10−7 M. BCS showed the good sensing ability in pH = 6–9 and the sensing selectivity kept stable under the interference of other species. The 1:1 binding mechanism was proposed based on the multiple intermolecular hydrogen bonds. The selective sensing ability of BCS for arginine was successfully applied on tested paper and the sample analyses of MinJiang river and adults urine. BCS was further used in the living-cell imaging experiments, suggesting the excellent fluorescence imaging property and the good detecting ability for arginine in living-cell environment. This research supplied a good method for real-time and in-situ sensing arginine in complicated environments and living bodies.