Triphenylamine (TPA) and binaphthyl (BINAP) have been widely used as building blocks in optoelectronics materials for their good electron donating and transport capability. However, TPA-bonded BINAP type of fluorescent probe towards Fe 3 + , a kind of important metal ion, has not been studied. Herein, a series of TPA-bonded BINAP DÀ A-D type derivatives, 6,6-TB-1, 6,6-TB-2, 7,7-TB-1, 7,7-TB-2, and 7,7-OMeTB-1, was synthesized to investigate their fluorescence (FL) chemosensor properties and electronic effect on sensitivity. Results showed that these probes exhibited highly selective FL quenching toward Fe 3 + in the presence of other common metal ions, and an enhanced sensitivity (limit of detection 1.7 × 10 À 7 M) not inferior to that of other works, could be achieved by introducing electron-donating substituent into TPA group. Then, comprehensive studies, such as NMR, EPR, MALDI-TOF-MS, and XPS combined with Mulliken atomic charges analysis were performed to gain an insight into the probe's binding with Fe 3 + to understand the detection mechanism. Compared with other works on TPAbased fluorescent probes ascribed to fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) or charge transfer (CT) mechanism, we reveal the interaction between Fe 3 + and N atom of TPA and the formation of probe-Fe 3 + complex leading to FL quenching. This work provides a simple strategy for designing a costeffective Fe 3 + fluorescent probe based on a single binding site to target one specific analyte.