[Application of Cationic Aluminum Phthalocyanine, a Red-Emitting Fluorescent Probe, for Sensitive Quantitative Analysis of RNA at Nanogram Level]

Tetrasubstituted trimethyl ammonium iodide aluminum phthalocyanine (TTMAAlPc), a positively charged phthalocyanine compound, is an emerging and potentially useful red-emitting fluorescence probe. The study showed that the fluorescence of TTMAAlPc could be quenched by RNA with high efficiency in weak alkaline media, and the degree of quenching has a linear relationship with RNA in a wide concentration range. The mechanism of quenching behavior of RNA on TTMAAlPc was discussed. It was attributed by the static interaction between RNA and TTMAAlPc, and the assembly of TTMAAlPc induced by RNA. Based on this new discovery, a novel method for quantitative determination of RNA at nanogram level has been established. The factors, including the pH of medium, buffer system, reaction time, reaction temperature, the usage of TTMAAlPc as well as the interferences, which affected the determination, were investigated and discussed. Under optimum conditions, the linear range of the calibration curve was 7.71-1 705.57 ng x mL(-1). The detection limit for RNA was 1.55 ng x mL(-1). This method has been applied to the analysis of practical samples with satisfied results. The constructed method is of high sensitivity and has a wide linear range, it also showed strong ability in the tolerance of foreign substances from anions, cations, surfactants and vitamins, all of which are common interferences encountered in the determination of RNA. Besides, it is the first report that the fluorescence quantum yield of TTMAAlPc has been measured at different pH by reference method in this work. The achieved data indicated that the fluorescence quantum yield of TTMAAlPc is larger than 20% and it keeps constant in a wide range of acidity, implying that TTMAAlPc is a high-quality red-emitting fluorescence probe, it has great potential for practical applications, thus is worthy of further study. This work expands the application of phthalocyanine compound in analytical sciences.