Two new acetylenic compounds were designed and synthesized as the probes to realize the detection and recognition of Au(3+). The latent fluorophores was rearranged into the fluorescent coumarin derivatives with strong fluorescence by a gold ion-mediated hydroarylation reaction. In the meanwhile, the generated fluorescent substances were also isolated and characterized. The probes identified Au(3+) ions highly selectively over other biologically relevant metal ions, and detection concentration of Au(3+) was as low as 0.1µM or less. Fluorescent imaging of Au(3+) in living cells was also successfully demonstrated.

A novel direct visualisation, fluorescent probe derived from coumarin for bisulfate ion detection has been designed and synthesized. This probe shows a rapid, high selectivity, and sensitivity in the detection of bisulfate ion. In a solution of DMSO:HEPES (1:9, v:v, 10 mM, pH 7.4) buffer containing the probe, the presence of HSO3 − made the UV-vis absorption of the probe blue-shift from pink to yellow, and the fluorescence of the probe also changed from red to green. Other investigated analytes and ions did not disturb the determination of HSO3 −. The reaction mechanism of the determination was proposed based on the nucleophilic attack toward electronpoor C=C bond of the probe. This probe has been successfully applied for determination of HSO3 − in living cells.

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