A Novel Highly Sensitive and Selective Fluorescent Sensor for Imaging Copper (II) in Living Cells

In this work, we designed and synthesized a novel quinolin-based derivative which exhibited signaling behaviors for Cu2+. Upon the addition of Cu2+ to the solution of the molecule, it displayed an obvious fluorescence quenching in a linear fashion due to the formation of a 1:1 metal-ligand complex. This fluorescent sensor exhibited a rare sensitivity toward Cu(II) (the level of magnitude could be 6 x 10(-8)), a rapid response (< 10 s) and also high selectivity toward Cu2+ over other metal ions such as Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Ba2+, Fe3+, Mn2+, Hg2+, Pb2+, Cd2+, Cr3+, Co2+, Zn2+ and Al3+. Simultaneously, the cell imaging experiments and filter paper test demonstrated its extensive applicability.