A novel bifunctional chemosensor for bioimaging in living cells with highly sensitive colorimetric and fluorescence detection of CN- and Al3+

A novel colorimetric/fluorescent chemosensor (1o) was designed and synthesized for the detection of CN- and Al3+. 1o exhibited a selective dual channel response to CN-, while it showed fluorescence changes in response to Al3+, in acetonitrile solvent. In the presence of CN-, 1o underwent a significant color change through a deprotonation effect and nucleophilic addition mechanism. The chelationinduced enhanced fluorescence (CHEF) effect was demonstrated by the inhibition process of Al3+ binding-induced C = N isomerization. We characterized the induction properties of 1o on CN- and Al3+ using photophysical experiments and theoretical calculations. The chemosensor exhibited high sensitivity to CN- and Al3+ with detection limits as low as 1.0 x 10(-7) mol L-1 and 3.0 x 10(-9) mol L-1, respectively. A simple test strip containing 1o was prepared for the rapid detection of CN- by the naked eye. It is worth mentioning that 1o was successfully applied for the bioimaging of CN- and Al3+ in living cells.

Automated summary

A novel colorimetric/fluorescent chemosensor (1o) was developed for the selective detection of CN- and Al3+ in acetonitrile. 1o exhibited high sensitivity with detection limits as low as 1.0 x 10(-7) mol L-1 for CN- and 3.0 x 10(-9) mol L-1 for Al3+, and was successfully utilized for bioimaging in living cells.