A simple BODIPY-based fluorescent probe for sequential recognition of Cu2+ and GSH and its application on test strips and bioimaging in living cells

•The synthetic route of probe BDB is very convenient.•The BDB-Cu2+ complex can distinguish GSH from Hcy and Cys.•The detection limits of probe BDB are 0.65 μM to Cu2+ and 0.02 μM to GSH.•Probe BDB can be applied for sequential recognition of Cu2+ and GSH in test strips and living cells.