Water-induced fluorescence turn-on imidazole derivative and its interaction with bovine serum albumin

Abstract

A new trityl imidazole derivative L was synthesized in one-step by reacting 1H-imidazole with triphenylmethyl chloride. The receptor L was applied for the detection of trace amounts of water in DMSO. The weakly emissive L in DMSO showed a significant fluorescence enhancement upon the addition of water due to the suppression of the photo-induced electron transfer process and aggregation-induced emission. The sensitivity of L to detect water in DMSO was estimated as 0.002 wt%. Further, the protein-ligand binding interaction between L and BSA was explored by steady-state fluorescence, fluorescence anisotropy and fluorescence lifetime under physiological conditions at pH 7. The formation of the BSA-L complex quenched the fluorescence emission of BSA. The molecular docking analysis was performed to establish the binding mode and stability of the BSA-L complex. The multiple non-covalent interactions occurred between the residues of BSA and the receptor L stabilized the BSA-L complex.