Fluorescent determination of zinc by a quinoline-based chemosensor in aqueous media and zebrafish.

A quinoline-based fluorescence sensor QDTD was developed for Zn. QDTD can detect Zn by fluorescence turn-on. Detecting limit (0.27 μM) of QDTD for Zn was far below WHO standard (76.0 μM). For the practical application, compound QDTD could be used to determine Zn in real samples and applied to the test kit. More importantly, QDTD was expertly applied for Zn imaging in HeLa cells and zebrafish with good membrane-permeability. Detection mechanism of Zn ion by compound QDTD was suggested through the analytical tools like H NMR titration, ESI-MS, Job plot, fluorescent and UV-vis titration, and theoretical calculations, and through the synthesis and applications of a model compound AAQA.