Small Molecule “turn on” fluorescent Probe for Silver ion and application to bioimaging

Abstract A simple thiophene based fluorescent probe 1 was prepared for the detection of Ag + in aqueous solution. Probe 1 exhibits high selectivity and sensitivity toward Ag + as fluorescence “ off-on” behavior in HEPES buffered MeOH-H 2 O (1:1, (v/v) HEPES = 50 mM, pH = 7.4) solution. The detection limit was calculated to be 1.28 × 10 −7 M with an association constant of 1.58 × 10 6  M −1 by fluorescence titration experiments. The probe was also demonstrated to detect Ag + in real samples and in living cells.