Discrimination between hard metals with soft ligand donor atoms: An on-fluorescence probe for manganese(II)

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.201002853

A backwards strategy for achieving Mn²⁺/Ca²⁺ selectivity was demonstrated: Instead of optimizing binding of Mn²⁺, the bapta ligand (upper structure in scheme) was modified by changing O to N donors to discourage associatio

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.201002853

Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201002853
Molecular Recognition
Discrimination between Hard Metals with Soft Ligand Donor Atoms:
An On-Fluorescence Probe for Manganese(II)**
Jian Liang and James W. Canary*
Manganese is an essential metal in all forms of life.[1] It
participates as a cofactor in diverse classes of enzymes and the
photosynthetic machinery[2] and is used widely as a versatile
tool for biological studies. For example, high-spin Mn2+ is an
excellent MRI relaxation agent that has been used in clinical
diagnosis and is of widespread interest as a tool in neuro-
biological research.[3] However, chronic overexposure can
result in movement disorders and mental disturbances and
other brain-related toxicities.[4] Fluorescent probes would be
useful for detection and quantification of Mn2+, as this
method offers high efficiency, high sensitivity, and easy
operation[5] among available methods of detection.[6] How-
ever, development of an effective fluorescent probe for Mn2+
faces several challenges: 1) Unlike diamagnetic metal ions
such as Zn2+, paramagnetic Mn2+ can quench fluorescence.
held principle of supramolecular and coordination chemistry.
However, while optimizing a receptor for a substrate leads to
strong binding, it may not result in good selectivity over
competing substrates. In the case of metal-ion complexation,
selection of ligand donor atom can sometimes be used to
advantage. For example, choosing soft donor atoms may
improve selectivity for relatively soft metal ions in competi-
tion with hard ones. Both Mn2+ and Ca2+, however, are
generally considered to be hard and show maximal stability
with hard oxygen donors. Thus, superficial considerations
would lead away from hard/soft donor atom considerations as
a strategy for achieving Mn2+ selectivity.
However, although both Mn2+ and Ca2+ are classified as
“hard” metals and therefore form stronger complexes with
oxygen donors, Mn2+ appears to be more tolerant of softer
atom donors than Ca2+.[13,14] More recently, the relative
softness of Mn2+ compared with Mg2+ has been debated as
the basis for Mn2+ rescue of activity in dialkylthiophosphate
RNAzymes.[15–17] Our hypothesis was thus to replace two or
more carboxylate groups in bapta with softer ligating
moieties. Since Mn2+ is a hard metal ion, weaker binding
might be expected from such a change, but since Ca2+ is an
even harder metal ion, the effect on Ca2+ should be more
pronounced, resulting in a net increase in selectivity. We
chose nitrogen atom donors from pyridine, which is a
common binding group in transition metal ion ligands
considered to be borderline but softer than oxygen.[14] To
evaluate the feasibility of our strategy, a prototype ligand 1
was synthesized, which has one carboxylate group of each
dicarboxymethylamino moiety of bapta replaced by a pyri-
dine (Scheme 1). The chemical synthesis of ligands 1–3 is
included in the Supporting Information.
UV titrations were carried out by addition of MnCl2 to
MOPS buffered aqueous solution (pH 7.2; MOPS = 3-(N-
morpholino)propanesulfonic acid) of 1 (Supporting Informa-
tion). In the absence of Mn2+, the spectrum of 1 showed a
maximum at 256 nm with a shoulder at 286 nm, similar to
bapta. Mn2+ complexation caused significant hypsochromic
shifts towards a limiting spectrum with a small maximum at
278 nm surrounded by shoulders. Absorbance at 256 nm was
plotted as a function of Mn2+ concentration and the minimum
level of absorbance was reached upon addition of 1 equiv-
alent of Mn2+, suggesting 1:1 metal–ligand complex. The same
analysis was applied to determine 1:1 complexation of bapta
to Mn2+. The binding constants were obtained by titration in
pH- and Mn2+- buffered aqueous media. The plot of
absorbance as a function of free Mn2+ produced a sigmoidal
curve. Nonlinear fitting analysis[18] gave association constants
(log K) of 8.62 for ligand 1 and 9.14 for bapta (Table 1). These
results indicate that substitution of two carboxylate groups of
Although
chelation-induced
fluorescence
quenching
(CHEQ) is the most commonly used method of paramagnetic
metal ion detection,[7] “on-fluorescence” probes for Mn2+ are
preferred. 2) Mn2+ selectivity over abundant cellular metal
ions is required, especially Ca2+ (up to high mm).[8] Mn2+ and
Ca2+ share many common properties, underscored by the fact
that Mn2+ can enter cells using some of the same transport
systems as Ca2+.[9] 3) Mn2+ probes must be compatible with
biological environments, including water solubility, biological
inertness, long-wavelength excitation and emission profiles to
minimize sample damage and native cellular autofluores-
cence.[10] 4) To visualize Mn2+ in living cells or tissues,
membrane permeability is important.[10]
Several commercially available chelating dyes produce
strong fluorescence enhancement upon binding Mn2+ [11]
.
However, the fluorescence of available dyes such as calcium
green is also enhanced in the presence of Ca2+. Bapta (1,2-
bis(o-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N,N-tetraacetic acid) is a
known Ca2+-selective ligand that serves as the chelating
moiety of calcium green.[12] We undertook to modify the bapta
unit in such a way as to achieve adequate Mn/Ca selectivity.
Optimizing stereoelectronic complementarity between
host and guest to achieve efficient complexation is a long-
[*] J. Liang, Prof. Dr. J. W. Canary
Department of Chemistry, New York University
100 Washington Sq E, New York, NY 10003 (USA)
Fax: (+1)212-995-4367
E-mail: canary@nyu.edu
Homepage: http://www.nyu.edu.edu/pages/canary/
[**] We are grateful to the NIH (GM070602) and the NSF (CHE-
0848234) for research support. J.L. was supported in part by a
Margaret and Herman Sokol Fellowship.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201002853.
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To realize the goal of a fluorescent Mn2+ probe, compound
1 was further functionalized to include a chromophore similar
to that present in calcium green. Thus, amino groups installed
para to the N atoms of both aniline moieties were coupled
with fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate in high yield followed by
hydrolysis afforded fluorescent probe 2. Probe 3, most similar
in structure to calcium green-2, was prepared containing
chloro substituents and an amide linkage between chelating
unit and fluorophore.
The binding properties of fluorescent probe 2 were first
investigated by titration with Mn2+ (Figure 1a). When excited
at 493 nm, 2 showed an emission maximum at 519 nm. Upon
addition of Mn2+, an enhanced fluorescence was observed
until saturation after 1 equivalent. The quantum yields of the
free probe and Mn2+-bound complex were determined to be
0.10 and 0.37, respectively. The association constant with
Mn2+ was log K = 7.01. Similar to the prototype ligand 1, only
a large excess of Ca2+ ion (mm) caused fluorescence
enhancement indicating weak association of 2 to Ca2+
(logK = 2.96). In the cellular environment, calcium concen-
tration is generally lower than 100 mm. Therefore, probe 2 has
the potential to detect Mn2+ in the presence of calcium ion
interference in biological systems. Screening for selectivity
against other metal ions Na+, Mg2+, Ba2+, and K+ (see
Supporting Information) showed no effect on fluorescence
intensity of 2. However, transition metal ions, Ni2+ and Cu2+
quench the fluorescence, while Fe2+, Co2+, Zn2+, Cd2+ and
Hg2+ may interfere with Mn2+ binding. Among these, Zn2+
(Table 1) is probably the most significant concern for likely
applications. Dissociation constants determined for Co2+,
Ni2+, and Cd2+ for bapta (9.13, 10.51, 13.38) and 1 (9.22, 10.23,
13.58) together with data for Mn2+ and Zn2+ (Table 1) indicate
that the two ligands follow the Irving–Williams series very
similarly, and that the discrimination against Ca2+ is much
greater than the effect observed on soft metals.
Compound 3 showed a longer lexc (505 nm) and lem
(530 nm) due to the two incorporated chlorine atoms on the
fluorophore (Supporting Information). The Mn2+ complex
showed enhanced fluorescence. Probe 3 maintained high
selectivity for Mn2+ over Ca2+ with logK of 8.00 for Mn2+ and
3.33 for Ca2+. The quantum yield of free probe 3 was 0.13,
while that for the Mn2+ complex was 0.49. Probe 3 shared
similar binding properties to probe 2 to other metal ions
(Supporting Information). Probe 2 was responsive over
physiologically relevant pH 6.8 to 8.2. Interestingly, probe 3
functions well in basic conditions: From pH 8.3 to pH 12.2,
the high pH limit of our measurement, the fluorescence
showed nearly full response. To our knowledge, probes 2 and
Scheme 1. Structures of ligands and probes.
bapta with two pyridines impairs binding affinity to Mn2+ to a
surprisingly small extent.
Calcium binding to ligand 1 was investigated in a similar
manner. A hypsochromic shift was again observed, but even
excess Ca2+ did not saturate the UV absorption indicating
weak affinity. The association constant of 1–Ca2+ was
determined to be log(Ka) = 3.79, about 4.83 log units weaker
than for Mn2+. The log(Ka) of bapta–Ca2+ was 6.89,[11] only
2.25 log units lower than that of bapta–Mn2+ complex.
Therefore, ligand 1 indeed shows much higher selectivity for
Mn2+ over Ca2+ as compared to bapta. The significant
improvement in Mn2+/Ca2+ selectivity validates our “selective
poisoning” strategy.
Table 1: Mn2+ and Ca2+ affinities and spectroscopic properties of ligands.
[a]
log K
Selectivity
log(KMn/KCa)
lmax
Ex
Em
f
f
Ligand
Mn2+
Ca2+
Mg2+
Zn2+
free
Mn2+
free
Mn2+
ligand
complex
ligand
complex
bapta
9.14
8.62
7.01
8.00
6.89
3.79
2.96
3.33
1.69
0.76
0.42
0.93
9.41
9.19
6.16
7.09
2.25
4.83
4.05
4.68
290 (4.8)
286 (6.3)
493 (84)
507 (80)
278 (4.5)
283 (4.1)
493 (100)
507 (92)
–
–
493
505
–
–
519
530
–
–
0.10
0.13
–
–
0.37
0.49
1
2
3
[a] The corresponding molar absorption coefficient e [103 LmolÀ1 cmÀ1] is given in parentheses.
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Communications
Figure 2. Detection of Mn2+ in HeLa cells. a) 5 mm 3 ethyl ester;
b) 200 mm added MnCl2; c) Mn2+-supplemented cells treated with
2 mm N,N,N’,N’-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine (tpen) for
5 min at room temperature.
Received: May 11, 2010
Revised: June 28, 2010
Published online: September 6, 2010
Figure 1. Fluorescence titration of 2 (5 mm, lexc =493 nm) with MnCl2
and CaCl2 (50 mm HEPES, 0.1m KNO3, pH 7.2): a) 0 to 200 mm Mn2+
b) 0 to 10 mm Ca2+. Inserts: lem =519 nm.
;
Keywords: calcium · cellular imaging · coordination chemistry ·
.
fluorescence · manganese
3 are the first selective “on-fluorescence” Mn2+ probes
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