The design and synthesis of two imidazole fluorescent probes for the special recognition of HClO/NaHSO and their applications.

Two fluorescent probes (L1 and L2) based on an imidazole unit were synthesized for the specific detection of ClO- and HSO3-. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to assist in designing the probes. As predicted, L1 could be used to detect ClO- in real water samples and in living cells.