Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and zinc(II) ions responsive pyrene based turn-on fluorescent probe and its application in live cell imaging.

Abstract A novel highly selective and sensitive turn-on fluorescent chemosensor PCE to recognize Zn2+ has been developed. The sensor PCE displays a remarkable fluorescent enhancement at 456 nm (λex = 340 nm) with Zn2+ without the interference of other biologically important relevant metal ions in aqueous acetonitrile solution. Job's plot and mass spectral studies divulge such the interaction of PCE by Zn2+ was 1:1 binding stoichiometry. The association constant and detection limit of PCE to recognize Zn2+ was found to be 0.948 × 104 M−1 and 4.82 × 10−7 M respectively. The nature of turn-on fluorescence sensor was supported by TD-DFT calculations. And the synthesized probe PCE was able to image intracellular Zn2+ in living cells using confocal imaging techniques. PCE-Zn ensemble showed the remarkable fluorescence enhancement with ATP selectively among other biologically important phosphates. 31P NMR experiments suggesting that the triphosphates unit of ATP is intact with the PCE Zn. PCE-Zn ensemble can be utilized for monitoring ATP in live cells.