A novel polythiophene derivative as a sensitive colorimetric and fluorescent sensor for the detection of ATP

Abstract

A novel cationic water-soluble polythiophene derivative, the poly[N,N,N-trimethyl-3-(thiophen-3-yl)propenaminium chloride] (PTPA-Cl) was chosen as a sensitive colorimetric and fluorescent probe to differentiate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the present work shows for the first time the difference between ATP and coenzyme A (CoA). ATP has much stronger colorimetric and fluorescent than CoA. When bound to different charged analytes, the polythiophene derivative probe emitted light with different colors due to the unique spectral properties of the conformation sensitive probe, and the sensing interaction can be apparently observed by naked eyes. Moreover, the cationic water-soluble polythiophene shows selectivity to ATP in the presence of other charged analytes and as well a high sensitivity with the detection limit at 10−8 M by using fluorometry at aqueous solution.