Fluorescence Detection of Adenosine Triphosphate in an Aqueous Solution Using a Combination of Copper(II) Complexes

Fluorescent ligands have been designed to form ternary complexes with a Cu(II) cation and phosphates in a buffer solution at physiological pH 7.4. It has been shown that a combination of two different ligands and CuCl(2) allows one to achieve high adenosine triphosphate/adenosine diphosphate, adenosine 5'-monophosphate selectivity, and ratiometric fluorescence sensing, while separately each ligand complex does not have such properties.