Construction of a luminescent eleven-metal Zn(ii)–Tb(iii) nanocluster for rapid and quantitative time-gated detection of guanosine-5-monophosphate and RNA

Abstract

One 11-metal Zn(II)–Tb(III) nanocluster 1 was synthesized using a tetradentate Schiff base ligand. The addition of GMP and RNA results in the enhancement of Tb(III) luminescence of 1, which is dominated by a static model. 1 exhibits highly sensitive TRL detection of GMP and RNA with a delay time of 300 μs, and the corresponding linear fitting equations are (I–I₀)/I₀ = 10.34·C_GMP − 223.42 and (I–I₀)/I₀ = 6.06·C_RNA − 7.47 with correlation coefficients R² = 0.9513 and 0.9909, respectively. The limits of detection for GMP and RNA are 3.11 μM and 0.53 ng μL⁻¹, respectively, and 1 can be used to determine the concentrations of GMP and RNA accurately. 1 displays a rapid and stable luminescence response to the analytes, with response times less than ten seconds and no changes for the lanthanide emission in one week.