Quinoline containing acetyl hydrazone: An easily accessible switch-on optical chemosensor for Zn2 +

Abstract A simple chemosensor, namely, N -((quinolin-8-yl)methylene)acetohydrazide ( 1 ) was synthesized and used as an off–on fluorescence sensor, which exhibits high selectivity toward Zn 2 + in aqueous media. The probe has large Stokes shift of > 200 nm, and its detection limit for Zn 2 + is 89.3 nM. The binding process was confirmed through UV–vis absorption analysis, fluorescence measurements, mass spectroscopy study, 1 H NMR spectra and density functional theory calculation. The crystal structures of Zn 2 + , Ni 2 + , and Cu 2 + complexes based on 1 were determined through X-ray crystallographic analysis. The fluorescent probe was then applied to monitor intracellular Zn 2 + in HeLa cells.