A Naphthalimides‐Based Probe for Sequential Detection of Cu²⁺ and PPi and Its Application in Cells Imaging

Abstract

A novel naphthalimides-based fluorescent probe (NPHD) selectively detected Cu 2 + and PPi through "strong yellow-weak green-strong yellow" photonic response in a sequential manner. The formation of NPHD-Cu 2 + resulted in obvious fluorescence decreased and wavelength shift from 595 nm to 525 nm by adding Cu 2 + to NPHD solution. The mechanism could be attributed to d!π* electron transfer (ET) from Cu 2 + to NPHD. Furthermore, the NPHD-Cu 2 + complex exhibited high selectivity toward PPi through via emission recovery of chemosensor NPHD. The detection limits of NPHD to Cu 2 + and NPHD-Cu 2 + to PPi were estimated to be 5.72 × 10 < M-> 8 M and 2.39 × 10 < M-> 8 M. In addition, NPHD could be employed to detect exogenous Cu 2 + and PPi in Hep G2 cells.