A highly selective fluorescent and chromogenic probe for CN^- detection and its applications in bioimaging

In this study, 3-ethyl-2-methylbenzothiazolium iodide and nitrophenyl-2-furancarboxaldehyde were used to synthesize a new fluorescent and chromogenic dual channel signal cyanide ion probe M, which showed high selectivity towards CN^- analysis and strong antijamming capability towards other anions. When CN^- is present in the solution, probe M indicates an obvious blue shift in UV-vis absorbance spectra, which can be observed clearly by unaided eyes. The limits of detection (LODs) of CN^- based on fluorescence and UV-vis absorbance were 0.11 μM and 0.16 μM, respectively. The mechanism of fluorescent and chromogenic cyanide ion detection refers to the nucleophilic addition of cyanide ion to carbon atom of -C˭N- in the benzothiazole. The π-conjugation and ICT transition between furfural and benzothiazole were broken due to this non-reversible reaction, resulting in the color change and fluorescent characterizations. In addition, probe M also showed the excellent optical properties and high biocompatibility, which enables the practical application of CN^- tracing in biomedical systems.