A novel chemosensor with visible light excitability for sensing Zn2+ in physiological medium and in HeLa cells

In the present study a novel imine-hydrazone based fluorescent chemosensor () for efficient and selective sensing of Zn(2+) over other biologically important metal ions under physiological conditions is reported. An enhancement in fluorescence emission intensity of the developed probe with a red shift of ∼25 nm was observed for Zn(2+), whereas other metal ions failed to reveal any significant change in the emission spectra. Interestingly, the receptor functioned under completely physiological conditions (99.7% HEPES buffer) and has visible light excitability. Sensing of Zn(2+) was investigated in detail by absorption spectroscopy, emission spectroscopy, DFT calculation, (1)H-NMR titration experiment and ESI-MS experiment. The association constant between and Zn(2+) was found to be 5.58 × 10(5) M(-1). The receptor could detect as low as 69 ppb Zn(2+). Sensing of Zn(2+) is proposed through switch-on of intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) and chelation enhanced fluorescence (CHEF) processes after the introduction of Zn(2+) into the free ligand. The developed receptor was non-toxic and rendered intracellular sensing of Zn(2+) in HeLa cells through fluorescence imaging studies.