A julolidine-chalcone-based fluorescent probe for detection of Al 3+ in real water sample and cell imaging.

A fluorescent probe 1 based on julolidine-chalcone derivative, which can specifically recognize aluminum ion with high selectivity and anti-interference, was developed. Probe 1 has good fluorescence stability and can detect Al with turn-on fluorescence in a wide pH range of 4.0-9.0. The probe has good repeatability for the detection of Al and fluorescence turn-on and off can be repeated with the alternate Al and EDTA. The sensing mechanism is speculated that Al will coordinate with hydroxyl oxygen and carbonyl oxygen on the probe through in situ H NMR and HRMS combing with Job's plot. The probe can also detect Al in actual water samples and applied to monitor Al in biological system.