A new selective fluorescent chemical sensor for Fe~(3+) based on rhodamine B and a 1,4,7,10-tetraoxa-13-azacyclopentadecane conjugate and its imaging in living cells

摘要

A novel rhodamine B-based sensor 1 consisting of a rhodamine B moiety linked to the amine end of a 1,4.7,10-tetraoxa-13-azacyclopentadecane was designed and synthesized. Sensor 1 exhibits a high selectivity for Fe~(3+) in the presence of many other metal cations in a MeOH/H_2O(1:1, v/v, pH = 7.4) solution. The binding analysis using a Job plot suggested that sensor 1 formed a 1:1 complex with Fe~(3+). The Fe~(3+) binding ability of 1 was further demonstrated by DFT calculations. Fluorescence microscopy experiments demonstrated that sensor 1 can be used as a fluorescent probe for the detection of Fe~(3+) in human liver cells(L-02) and rat neuronal cells(PC12).