A novel turn on fluorescent probe for the determination of Al and Zn ions and its cells applications.

Early detection of probes is very important for limiting toxic effects of various transition metal ions for example aluminum and zinc. Monitoring of these metal ions can be challenging via conventional methods since they are high cost instrumentations, time consuming and so on. We report facile preparation of a fluorescence probe containing biphenyl groups that effectively selective and superb sensitivity towards aluminum (III) and zinc (II) in neutral solutions without interference from each other and other ions. In neutral pH value, the probe FOB displayed the OFF-ON fluorescence enhancement at 464 nm and 512 nm toward aluminum (III) and zinc (II), respectively. The detection limit values of FOB for Al and Zn in neutral solutions were 1.27 and 1.02 nM, respectively and these values were significantly lower than permitted Al and Zn concentrations in drinking water determined by the World Health Organization (WHO) and European Water Quality. Also, fabricated cyano-biphenyl based probe is effective for sensing for aluminum (III) and zinc (II) in living human colon cancer cells even when employed at low concentrations (1.0 μM). Overall, this work allows us to obtain a great potential to be applied to detect Al and Zn.