Fluorescent sensors based on controllable conformational change for discrimination of Zn2+ over Cd2+

• DOI: 10.1016/j.tet.2012.04.090
• Publication Date: 2012-05-02T20:56:17Z
• Authors: Jiasheng Wu; Ruilong Sheng; Weimin Liu; Pengfei Wang; Hongyan Zhang; Jingjin Ma
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences

Abstract A new coumarin-derived imine IC1 was designed for highly selective sensing of Zn2+ over Cd2+ ions in aqueous solution based on a controllable C N isomerization mechanism. Methyl as a fine controllable unit was incorporated into IC1 to tune the conformational change of imine and thus significantly improve its selectivity to Zn2+ compared with methyl-free imine IC2. Sensor IC1 was also utilized to image intracellular Zn2+ ions in HepG2 cells with a good performance.