Study on Acridine Orange dimer as a new fluorescent probe for the determination of protein

Abstract

A nonfluorescent dimer of Acridine Orange is formed in situ in the presence of the anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Proteins labeled with Acridine Orange dimer (AOAO) show a greatly enhanced fluorometric activity compared with that of AOAO. Based on this, a new, fast and sensitive fluorescent probe for the determination of proteins was developed. The linear range of this assay is 0.66–39.8 µg mL–1. For the detection of proteins in human serum, this method gave values close to that of the conventional Coomassie Brilliant Blue (CBB) method, but the sensitivity of the method is much superior to that of the CBB method. The detection limit for BSA was 0.08 µg mL–1.