Determination of Protein by Fluorescence Enhancement of Curcumin in Lanthanum-Curcumin-Sodium Dodecyl Benzene Sulfonate-Protein System

We found that the fluorescence intensity of the lanthanum (La3+)-curcumin (CU) complex can be highly enhanced by proteins in the presence of sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate (SDBS). Based on this finding, a new fluorimetric method for the determination of protein was developed. Under optimized conditions, the enhanced intensities of fluorescence are quantitatively in proportion to the concentrations of proteins in the range 0.0080–20.0 μg·mL−1 for bovine serum albumin (BSA) and 0.00080–20.0 μg·mL−1 for human serum albumin (HSA) with excitation of 425 nm, and 0.00020–20.0 μg·mL−1 for bovine serum albumin (BSA) and 0.00080–20.0 μg·mL−1for human serum albumin (HSA) with excitation of 280 nm, while corresponding qualitative detection limits (S/N ≥ 3) are as low as 5.368, 0.573, 0.049, 0.562 µg·mL−1, respectively. Study on reaction mechanism reveals that proteins can bind with La3+, CU and SDBS through self-assembling function with electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic interaction and van der Waals forces, etc. The proteins form a supermolecular association with multilayer structure, in which La3+-CU is clamped between BSA and SDBS. The unique high fluorescence enhancement of CU is resulted through synergic effects of favorable hydrophobic microenvironment provided by BSA and SDBS, and efficient intermolecular energy transfer among BSA, SDBS and CU. In energy transfer process, La3+ plays a crucial role because it not only shortens the distance between SDBS and CU, but also acts as a “bridge” for transferring the energy from BSA to CU.