Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 3, 2026

Early Detection of Cyanobacterial Blooms and Associated Cyanotoxins using Fast Detection Strategy
Published on: February 25, 2021
A Fluorophores Probe for Selectively Detecting Cu(II) and Zn(II) Based on Photochromic Diarylethenes
Zhenzhen Tu1, Qian Zhang1, Yan Qian1
1Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biosensors, Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China.
Abstract:
A novel photochromic fluorophores based on diarylethene (BMBT) was synthesized with simple process, which displays high selectivity for metal ion Cu2+ and Zn2+. BMBT displays an excellent photochromism characteristic with reversibly spectral change upon alternating irradiation with ultraviolet and visible light. BMBT can detect Cu2+ by color change from pale yellow to dark green in THF solution and exhibits an easily detectable change in fluorescence intensity when the concentration of metal ion Cu2+ and Zn2+ were increased, respectively. More importantly, BMBT exhibits good hydrophilic, low toxicity and good biocompatibility, which indicated that it can serve as a detector for the metal ion Cu2+ and Zn2+ in environmental pollutants and biological systems.
Related Concept Videos
What is Natural Selection?
Antibiotic Selection
Types of Selection
Frequency-dependent Selection
Labeling DNA Probes
Radioisotopes, fluorophores, or small molecule binding partners like biotin or digoxigenin, are the most widely used reporter tags for labeling DNA probes. These labels can be attached to the probe DNA molecule via...
Limits to Natural Selection

