Yuzhu Jiang¹, Zhong Huang², Huajun Dai¹, Lihua Wang¹, Liu Ying¹ and Xingming Kou^1,*

¹College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, P.R. China

²Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, Sichuan 621900, P.R. China

*Corresponding author: Fax: +8685412291; Tel: +13980995879; E-mail: kouxm@scu.edu.cn

A new fluorescent sensor 1, which functionalized with one dichlorofluorescein moiety as fluorogenic signaling subunit and two azathia-crown ether macrocyclic as binding site was designed, synthesized and characterized. It was found that sensor 1 can selectively recognize Cu²⁺ by a remarkable emission quenching in DMSO-H₂O (1:1, v/v), which was attributed to the 1:2 complex formation between 1 and Cu²⁺, while other ion including K⁺, Na⁺, Mg²⁺, Zn²⁺, Ba²⁺, Co²⁺, Ca²⁺, Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺, Pb²⁺, Pb²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Ag⁺ induced no or much small fluorescence changes. In addition, the sensor 1 exihibited a rapid, stable and linear response to Cu²⁺ in the concentration range from 5 × 10^-7 to 1 × 10^-5 mol L^-1 with a detection limit as low as 8.7 × 10^-8 mol L^-1. Furthermore, the sensor 1 was applied to practical determination of Cu²⁺ in different water samples with satisfactory results.

Fuorescent probe, Azathia-crown ether, Dichlorofluorescein, Copper ion, Fluorescence quenching.