A novel acridine-based fluorescent probe for the cascade recognition of Cr3+ and PO43-

A novel fluorescent probe (L) based on acridine was rationally designed and synthesized. The fluorescent probe exhibited good selectivity and sensitivity toward Cr3+ in methanol. Meanwhile, the L-Cr3+ solution also displayed excellent selectivity to PO43- by a displacement approach. Moreover, the probe L could be used in neutral methanol aqueous medium, which had potential applications in biological and environmental systems. More importantly, both L and the L-Cr3+ complex had cell permeability and were successfully demonstrated in living MGC-803 cells for the detection of Cr3+ and PO43-, respectively. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.