ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

A bis-(rhodamine)-based off–on colorimetric and fluorescent probe for Fe³⁺ ion detection in serum and bioimaging

Pengying Liu, Aoheng Luo, Yuyuan Wang, Jiangke Hu, Qiao Huang, and Hongqing Wang

University of South China, Hunan, China

E-mail: hqwang2015@126.com

Abstract: An off–on colorimetric and fluorescent probe N¹, N⁴-bis (2-(3′, 6′-bis(diethylamino)-3-oxospiro[isoindoline-1,9′-xanthen]-2-yl) ethyl) terephthalamide (Rp) for Fe³⁺ was designed and synthesized, which could selectively and sensitively respond to Fe³⁺ among other tested metal cations in THF–H₂O solution (v/v = 4/6, pH = 7.2) accompanied with a remarkable fluorescence enhancement and an obvious color change visible to “naked-eye”. The fluorescence intensity of the probe Rp showed a good linearity with the concentration of Fe³⁺ covering from 0.1 to 26 μM and the detection limit was 0.0231 μM. Meanwhile, the binding mode between Rp and Fe³⁺ was found to be a 1:2 stoichiometric formation. Moreover, the complexation of Rp–Fe³⁺ could be broken by carbonate, so this system might be utilized as a carbonate probe in the future. Most importantly, the probe Rp was not only applied to monitor Fe³⁺ level in human blood serum and water samples, but also was used for fluorescence imaging of Fe³⁺ in living cell.

Keywords: Fluorescent probe ; Fe³⁺ ; Rhodamine ; Serum ; Cell imaging 

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-018-0492-9

Chemical Papers 72 (10) 2575–2587 (2018)