Tetraphenylethene based zinc complexes as fluorescent chemosensors for pyrophosphate sensing

Abstract We described a serious of zinc complexes that exhibit characteristic fluorescence responses toward pyrophosphate (PPi) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in aqueous media. These novel probes exploited tetraphenylethene (TPE) as fluorophore and macrocycle-polyamine (including 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane and 1,4,7-triazacyclononane) Zn(II) complexes as binding group. These “OFF–ON” type probes exhibited promising selectivity and sensitivity to PPi and ATP via a restriction of intramolecular rotation (RIR) mechanism. The detection limit for PPi was found within nmol/L range.