A luminescent lanthanide coordination polymer based on energy transfer from metal to metal for hydrogen peroxide detection

A bimetal lanthanide coordination polymer nanoparticle (ATP-Ce/Tb-Tris CPNs) with good biocompatibility was synthesized in Tris-HCl buffer using adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecules as the bridge ligands. The large absorption cross section and suitable emission energy of Ce3+ matching to the adsorption energy of Tb3+(4fn) results in the efficient energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+, thus the synthesized ATP-Ce/Tb-Tris CPNs exhibit the characteristic green emission of Tb3+. Such energy transfer from metal to metal in fluorescent lanthanide coordination polymer nanoparticles (Ln-CPNs) has been demonstrated. It is found that the oxidation of Ce3+ in ATP-Ce/Tb-Tris CNPs to Ce4+ would interrupt the energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+, leading to fluorescence quenching of Tb3+. On the basis of this quenching mechanism, ATP-Ce/Tb-Tris CPNs has been successfully used to detect reactive oxygen H2O2 with detection limit as low as 2 nM. If glucose oxidase is present in the system, glucose can be determined using the ATP-Ce/Tb-Tris CNPs nanosensor.