Glucose-responsive vesicular sensor based on boronic acid-glucose recognition in the ARS/PBA/DBBTAB covesicles

The amphiphile, 4-(4-dodecyloxybiphenyl-4-yloxy) butyl trimethylammonium bromide (DBBTAB), has a cationic group with quaternary ammonium salt, which can self-organize into vesicles in dilute aqueous solutions. The alizarin red S (ARS) with a negatively charged group is attracted electrostatically to the positively charged surface on the DBBTAB vesicles to form covesicles. By taking advantages of the features, a vesicular fluorescent sensor was prepared based on phenylboronic acid (PBA)-glucose recognition in the aqueous ARS/PBA/DBBTAB covesicles. The sensor was constructed with three constituents: PBA, DBBTAB amphiphile and ARS which served as the detector. The vesicular sensor enhanced the sensitivity to glucose by about seven- to eight-fold, compared with the same aqueous PBA/ARS solution, which was ascribed to the increased local concentrations of glucose on the surface of vesicles. The vesicular sensor may be available for detection of saccharides in biological systems. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.