Chronic exposure to weakly bound Cu(II) has toxic effects on humans and various aquatic organisms . Thus, accurately monitoring the concentrations of weakly bound Cu(II) in water is very important. Since Cu(II) is often present in very low concentrations, it is highly desirable to be able to detect it with very sensitive techniques such as fluorescence. However, this is a challenging task given the paramagnetic nature of Cu(II) that quenches fluorescence signals, and the interference of metals that may be present in much greater concentrations than Cu(II). We have developed a charge-responsive polymeric system using Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) to separate the process of Cu(II) detection from the ratiometric readout, reducing the quenching problem. We also seek to separate signals of the potentially interfering metal ion Zn(II) from the Cu(II), and to this end will describe ligand designs that show different preference for Cu(II) relative to Zn(II).

Bifunctional Cu(II) and Zn(II) ligands for ratiometric metal ion sensing

251st National Meeting (2016)

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