Fecha de publicación: -- Fuente: PubMed "essential OR oil extract" Anal Chim Acta. 2026 Dec 15;1427:346341. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2026.346341. Epub 2026 Oct 16.ABSTRACTSensitive visualization of latent fingerprints (LFPs) through the detection of specific biomolecular constituents is essential for forensic analysis. Herein, we report a series of naphthalimide-based fluorescent probes bearing systematically varied substituents for LFP development. Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) calculations show that, among the investigated compounds, the triphenylamine-functionalized derivative NA-TPA has the smallest HOMO-LUMO gap (2.94 eV), the longest charge-transfer distance (D index = 6.68 Å), and the lowest exciton binding energy (2.49 eV). These electronic characteristics are consistent with the pronounced intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) character and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) behavior of NA-TPA. NA-TPA also exhibits pronounced solvatochromism, stable emission in the aggregated state, favorable in vitro biocompatibility, substantial lipophilicity (experimentally determined logP = 1.42), and high selectivity toward triglycerides. As a "turn-on" fluorescent probe, NA-TPA displays a 3.1-fold increase in fluorescence intensity together with a 56 nm blue shift upon interaction with triglycerides. Binding-energy calculations (-66.12 kcal·mol-1) and atom-resolved contribution analyses further support the observed selectivity and elucidate the preferential interaction of NA-TPA with triglycerides. Moreover, NA-TPA enables high-contrast visualization of LFPs on diverse substrates and resolves well-defined ridge characteristics, including Level 3 features such as sweat pores. The structure-property-performance relationships established in this study provide a rational framework for designing fluorescent probes for forensic applications.PMID:43003578 | DOI:10.1016/j.aca.2026.346341