Constructing ratiometric enhanced probes via regulating recognition moiety, for bacteriostasis, nanofibrous film detection, and Hg2+imaging in living systems

Ratiometric probes are favored for their application in biological systems, and the signal ratio between two channels is a crucial indicator for evaluating the performance. Since changing the substituent group on the recognition group would significantly influence the response performance of a fluorescent probe, in this work, we modified the substituent group on the 7-position of a coumarin to give two Hg2+ probes based on throughbond energy transfer (TBET) strategy; the probes displayed a much higher detection capacity and emission ratio between the red and blue channels. The probes were successfully applied for Hg2+ imaging in cells and living mice and possess significant bacteriostatic activity, demonstrating potential application in biological science, but also present excellent stability and detection ability serving as solid-phase detection materials via fabricating into nanofiber using electrostatic spinning.