Construction of novel π-bridged fluorescent probes for Fe monitoring in living cells and foods.

Fe plays a crucial role in biological systems as an essential trace element in the body. Iron is absorbed by the body through food and Fe is also an important component of living cells; therefore, quantitative testing of Fe in food and in living cells is of great importance. This paper presents the development of a novel π-bridge EDOT-based N-oxide turn-on fluorescent probe, designated as FeE, for the detection of Fe.

AIE-based fluorescent probe designed with xanthone as a π-bridge for detecting of ClO in pericarp and living cells.

The role of ClO in the physiological functioning of organisms is significant. In this paper, the four fluorescent probes HON (HON, HON, HON and HON) were prepared based on oxyanthracene through the introduction of different substituents, and their photophysical properties were investigated, among which the AIE effect of HON was the most significant, and therefore the fluorescent "turn-off" ClO probe HON-CN was chosen to be prepared by constructing the ClO recognition site hydrazone bond at HON. The ClO recognises the hydrazone group in the probe HON-CN, and when the hydrazone bond is broken, the aldehyde group is released, generating HON with yellow fluorescence.

Xanthene-based Hg fluorescent probe for detection of Hg in water/food samples, as well as imaging of live cells, zebrafish and tobacco seedlings.

In this paper, an Hg detection probe, HOS, was prepared with a xanthene as the parent fluorophore. Hg-initiated thioacetal deprotection reaction is the detection mechanism of this probe. After testing, the probe HOS was able to accurately determine Hg with a detection limit of 36 nM.