A tetraphenylethylene-functionalized salicylaldehyde Schiff-base fluorescent probe (TPE-An-Py) with aggregation-induced enhanced emission (AIEE) characteristics exhibited high sensitivity towards copper(ii) ions in aqueous media with a “turn-off” fluorescence mechanism; limit of detection is 2.36 × 10−7 mol L−1.

A new C 3v -symmetric homooxacalix[3]arene L bearing pyrene moieties as fluorophore has been designed and synthesized. L exhibits a significant fluorescence quenching responses to I − even in the concurrent presence of other potentially competing anions. There is a good linear relationship between the fluorescence intensity and the concentration of I − ranging from 0 to 100 μM and the detection limit was calculated to be as low as 164 nM. The ligand L can be served as fluorescent chemosensor for highly selective, sensitive, and rapid detection of I − .