New Fluorescent and Colorimetric Probe for Cyanide: Direct Reactivity, High Selectivity, and Bioimaging Application

Taking advantage of the special nucleophilicity of 1 cyanide, a new ratiometric fluorescent and colorimethc probe (Coum-1) was designed by tuning the pi-conjugated bridge to affect the intramolecular charge transfer efficiency. Upon the addition of CN- anion, the probe displayed very large blue-shift in both fluorescence (90 nm) and absorption (90 nm) spectra, with the detection limit of 800 nM. Other anions gave nearly no interference. Furthermore, Coum-1 was successfully applied to the fluorescent microscopic imaging for the detection of CN- in HeLa cells.