Protein analysis with tetra-substituted sulfonated cobalt phthalocyanine by the technique of Rayleigh light scattering

This is the first report of cobalt-tetrasulfonatophthalocyanine (CoTSPc) as a probe of Rayleigh light scattering (RLS) to determine proteins at nanogram levels. A highly sensitive method has been developed for the determination of proteins by the light scattering technique on a common spectrofluorimeter, based on the fact that the weak RLS of CoTSPc can be greatly enhanced in the presence of proteins. Under optimum conditions, the linear ranges of the calibration curves were 0.10-34.3 mug mL(-1) for both human serum albumin and bovine serum albumin, with detection limits of 15.5 and 13.9 ng mL(-1), respectively. Moreover, there is almost no interference of any amino acids and metal ions. The method has been applied to the direct determination of total proteins in human serum samples, and the results were satisfactory with clinical data provided. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.