A highly sensitive and selective fluorescent probe for determination of Cu (II) and application in live cell imaging

A highly sensitive fluorescent probe, 2-butyl-6-(2-ethylidenehydrazinyl)-1H-benzo[de]isoquinoline-1,3 (2H)-dione (P) has been designed and synthesized to detect Cu2+ in CH3 CN-HEPES (4:1, v/v, pH = 7.4) solution. This probe functions via a distinctive hydrolysis mechanism through Cu2+-promoted accompany by extinction of the fluorescent and other competing metal ions did not showed any interference. The limit of detection toward Cu2+ was calculated of 320 nM. Probe P was not only successfully used for the determination of trace level Cu2+ in the CH3CN-HEPES (4:1, v/v, pH = 7.4) solution, but also valid for fluorescence imaging of Cu2+ in lysosomes of 293T cells and it was applied in real water samples. This work indicated that P would be of great application prospect in environmental monitoring and medical diagnosis. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.