Highly Selective and Sensitive Chemosensor for Hg2+ Based on the Naphthalimide Fluorophore

A Turn-On Fluorescence-Based Fibre Optic Sensor for the Detection of Mercury

The design, development, and evaluation of an optical fibre sensor for the detection of Hg2+ in aqueous media are discussed in detail in this paper. A novel fluorescent polymeric material for Hg2+ detection, based on a coumarin derivative (acting as the fluorophore) and an azathia crown ether moiety (acting as the mercury ion receptor), has been synthesized. The fluorophore was covalently immobilized onto the fibre surface by polymerisation using the ion imprinting technique and exhibited a significant increase in fluorescence intensity in response to Hg2+ via a photoinduced electron transfer (PET) mechanism. The sensor provided a response over a concentration range of 0-28 µM with an acceptable response rate of around 11 min and a recovery rate of around 30 min in a Tris-EDTA buffer solution. A detection limit of 0.15 µM was obtained with a possibility of improvement by changing the thickness of the polymer layer and using a more sensitive detector. High-quality performance is seen through a high selectivity for Hg2+ over other metal ions, excellent photo-stability and reversibility which was also demonstrated, making this type of sensor potentially well suited for in-situ monitoring of mercury in the environment.

Selective and sensitive detection of cysteine in water and live cells using a coumarin–Cu2+ fluorescent ensemble

A coumarin–Cu²⁺ ensemble based fluorescent chemosensor was developed for the selective detection of cysteine in aqueous media and live cells.

Computational design of zinc-ion-responsive two-photon fluorescent probes with conjugated multi-structures

A series of conjugated multi-structured fluorescent probe molecules based on a salen ligand were designed and investigated in dimethyl sulfoxide solvent using a quantum-chemical method. The results indicate that the one-photon absorption and fluorescence emission spectra (λ (O) and λ (EM)) of these molecules generally show redshifts (of 23.1-74.5 and 22.7-116.6 nm, respectively) upon the coordination of the molecules to Zn(2+). Large Stokes shifts (1511.2-11744.1 cm(-1)) were found for the molecules, meaning that interference between λ (O) and λ (EM) can be avoided for these molecules. The two-photon absorption spectra of the molecules usually present blueshifts, but the two-photon absorption cross-section (δ) greatly increases (by 221.5-868.0 GM) upon the coordination of the molecules with Zn(2+). Most of the molecules show strong two-photon absorption peaks in the range 678.2-824.4 nm, i.e., in the near-infrared region. In a word, the expanded π-conjugated frameworks of these molecules lead to redshifted λ (O) and λ (EM) and enhanced δ values. Moreover, (L-phenyl)​2 and (L-phenyl-ethynyl)2 are the most suitable of the multi-structured molecules examined in this work for use as two-photon fluorescent probes for zinc ion detection in vivo. Graphical Abstract Scheme of the calculated transition energies (E0k and E0n) and the transition dipole moments (M0k and Mkn). NTO 109, NTO 197 and NTO 228 of Zn(L-phenyl-ethynyl), Zn2(L-phenyl-ethynyl)2 and Zn3(L-phenyl)3 for one-photon absorption, respectively.

A naphthalimide based PET probe with Fe3+ selective detection ability: theoretical and experimental study

A naphthalimide based Fe³⁺ selective fluorescence ‘turn-on’ probe that operates based on a PET mechanism has been synthesized, and its application in the detection of Fe³⁺ ions in aqueous samples and in live cells is explored.