A Telechelic Fluorescent Indicator Based on Polymer Conformational Change for Free Copper(II) Ions

A novel copper(II) ion indicator based on polymer conformational change is designed and its chemo-response to the target analyte is tested in this paper. The word ‘telechelic’ in the title means that a polymer has two different fluorophores on either end. If one of them is a fluorescent donor and the other is a fluorescent acceptor, then the extent of Foerster resonance energy transfer (FRET) will depend on polymer conformation. The sensitivity of these sensors is tunable based on the chain length and the amount of the receptor on the polymer. This is revealed by the fluorescence response of 30mer, 50mer, and 100mer of poly(N-isopropyl)acrylamide with different amounts of metal chelation monomers. We also address the change in fluorescence over time due to the untangling of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) in water. The fluorescent signal can maintain stability after metal binding. The photoluminescence results agree with the length calculation of polyelectrolytes. A fluorescent standard curve is created for the measurement of different concentrations of copper ions. The sensing limit can reach 10−10 M analytes, which is suitable for the measurement of chemicals in trace amounts in the environment.