A new tetrazole based turn-on fluorescence chemosensor for Zn2+ ions and its application in bioimaging

A new turn-on fluorescent quinolone tetrazole based chemosensor (QT-1) is designed and synthesized which shows high sensitivity and selectivity for Zn2+ ions in aqueous acetonitrile solution. QT-1 probe easily distinguishes Zn2+ ions from Cd2+ ions. Job's plot analysis suggested that the binding of QT-1 and Zn2+ ions is probably a 1:1 stoichiometry. Thus QT-1 can be employed for fluorescent imaging of Zn2+ ions in living cells. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.