An ultra-sensitive near-infrared fluorescent probe based on triphenylamine with high selectivity detecting the keratin.

In this work, a novel triphenylamine derivative probe TPA-1 was designed and synthesized with a mechanism of aggregation induced emission (AIE) and twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) in a microenvironment. It can be used for the detection of keratin with AIE enhanced characterization in near infrared (NIR) emission. The sensitivity and selectivity for keratin detection were also studied. In the physiological pH range, the detection of TPA-1 to keratin was not interfered by other proteins and amino acids, and had excellent specificity and photostability. TPA-1 can also be used for viscosity detection.