A tri-serine tri-lactone scaffold for the quantification of citrate in urine

Tri-serine tri-lactone based C-3 symmetry fluorescent sensors were synthesized. Citrate is shown to bind to sensors, while displaying an increase in fluorescence intensity for the sensor with thiourea and a quenching for the sensor with sulfonamide. Information-rich responses of the sensors enable us to discriminate structurally similar anions, including mono-, di- and tri-carboxylates with 100% correct classification. A simple two-sensor array enables the determination of the concentration of citrate in urine without any sample preparation with high accuracy (error < 2%).