A label-free fluorescence turn-on assay for glutathione detection by using MnO nanosheets assisted aggregation-induced emission-silica nanospheres.

Glutathione (GSH) serves several vital biological functions and its abnormal levels are associated with many diseases. Simple and sensitive methods capable of detecting GSH are desired for better understanding the mechanism of diseases. In this work, a label-free MnO nanosheets assisted aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-silica nanospheres (SiO NPs) nanoprobe for fluorescent "turn-on" detection of GSH with high sensitivity was reported for the first time. The anionic tetraphenylethylene derivative 3 (TPE3) was synthesized and employed as the AIE-active probe, which can be aggregated on the uncoated amino-functionalized SiO NPs to form AIE-SiO NPs and emitted strong fluorescence. Negatively charged MnO nanosheets were employed as both positive charge protectors for amino-functionalized SiO NPs and recognition units for GSH. The presence of GSH could selectively reduce MnO nanosheets to Mn, thus releasing the amino-functionalized SiO NPs and exposure its positive charges. Accordingly, the TPE3 could be aggregated on the exposured amino-functionalized SiO NPs to form AIE-SiO NPs and emitted strong fluorescence. The proposed assay is simple, fast, low cost, and highly sensitive with a detection limit of 200nM for GSH. The assay was further applied in human serum samples for the detection of GSH with satisfactory results, demonstrating its promising application in practical biological samples.