Probing Cr(III) from Cr(pic)3 derivatives in living cell by two rhodamine B-based AIEgens

Abstract Two rhodamine B-based compounds 1 and 2 were prepared for application of fluorescence Cr(III) probes, and they inherit aggregation induced emission (AIE) features with strong red emission in water. Fluorescence spectra and cell imaging proved that compounds 1 and 2 were highly responsive to Cr(III), and they were employed to investigate the decomposition of chromium picolinate (Cr(pic)3) in the living cells. As a result, Cr(III) was captured by compound 1 and 2 from Cr(pic)3 in living cell. This result demonstrated that the biological mechanism of Cr(pic)3 could be explored by the fluorescent tracer.