A fluorescent chemosensor based on 8-aminoquinoline has been synthesized.This sensor is capable of excellent selectivity and sensitive fluorescence enhancement to Zn2+ over other cations in acetonitrile aqueous solution.X-ray crystal structure analysis reveals that sensor coordinates to Zn2+ via 1∶1 binding mode but to Cd2+ via 2∶1,which lead to different spatial arrangement of fluorogenic unit in these complexes.In addition, density functional theory calculation on L, Zn2+/L and Cd2+/L complexes also implies that different structures of L significantly affect the molecular orbitals energy levels and electron transition, which would result in the spectral changes to distinguish Zn2+ from Cd2+.Furthermore, the fluorescence imaging of Zn2+ in living cells was applied.
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