Exploiting the higher alkynophilicity of Au-species: development of a highly selective fluorescent probe for gold ions.

A new approach, involving the anchoring-unanchoring of a fluorophore, has been developed for the detection of Au-species. The fluorescent probe was found to be highly selective for sensing gold species in the presence of several other metal ions. A successful application to bioimaging has also been demonstrated with A549 lung cancer cells.