A long-range emissive mega-Stokes inorganic-organic hybrid material with peripheral carboxyl functionality for As(v)...

We demonstrate a strategy for the recognition of As⁵⁺ in aqueous solution using a red-emissive probe based on a perylene-Cu²⁺ ensemble decorated with peripheral free carboxyl functionality. Single crystal analysis helped us to understand the chemical structure of the probe. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first probe for arsenic detection which emits in the red region (λ_em = 600 nm). The perylene-Cu²⁺ ensemble exhibited a mega-Stokes shift (>100 nm) with a high degree of selectivity upon interaction with As⁵⁺, which indicated that the present probe has the potential to be used as a turn-on optical sensor for selective detection of As⁵⁺ with fewer experimental limitations. The detection limit was found to be 26 nM. Inspired by its good emissive properties, the ensemble was further explored for imaging As⁵⁺ in live cells. Because of its long-range emissive nature, no autofluorescence from the cellular species was observed during the imaging process. The probe was evaluated to be non-toxic and successfully permeated the cell membrane without the help of any permeabilizing agent to image As⁵⁺.