A new colorimetric and ratiometric probe for highly selective recognition and bioimaging of ClO- and Al3+

In this study, a new fluorescence probe HMAQ based on quinazoline and diaminomaleonitrile was constructed for sensing ClO- and Al3+. A fluorescence blue-shift with 102 nm together with a color change from golden-yellow to colorless was found by hypochlorite-induced hydrolysis of -CH = N- group to release the initial fluorophore. Besides, Al3+ could cause a 72-nm blue-shifted emission spectra and a color change from golden-yellow to brown. As expected, HMAQ exhibited a satisfactory selectivity and sensitivity to ClO-/Al3+ with a quick response. Most notably, the reversibility of the [HMAQ+Al3+] complex could be used to detect ClO- and Al3+ simultaneously without mutual interferences. The detection limits of HMAQ for ClO- and Al3+ were turned out to be 102 nM and 1.56 nM, respectively. The high-performance results of real-time detections demonstrated the enormous potential of HMAQ in real-water samples and living cells. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V.