Folic Acid With Fluorene: A Complexation Study by UV and FTIR Spectroscopies

Abstract

The complexation between folic acid and a typical polyaromatic hydrocarbon, fluorene, was investigated using FTIR and UV spectra. Appearance of a new IR band at 2401cm−1 demonstrates that NH2–C=N moiety on pterin ring in folic acid is protonated when fluorene is introduced. The emergence of two charge transfer bands at 217 nm and 278 nm in UV difference spectra shows the presence of π-π complexation between folic acid and fluorene. These experiments confirm that fluorene could combine with the pterin ring of folic acid through π-π donor–acceptor interaction and induce the protonation process in folic acid upon strengthening electron accepting ability of pterin ring. The results suggest that complexation between fluorene with folic acid necessarily change their charge distribution and the surroundings. It is inferred that not only biotransformation process of folic acid, but also the toxicity of polyaromatic hydrocarbons could be changed.