Reversible rhodamine-alkyne Au3+-selective chemosensor and its bioimaging application

A rhodarnine-alkyne conjugate has been developed for selective detection of Au3+ in a reversible manner. Rhodamine was coupled with o-phenylenediamine bearing a propargyl moiety. The probe displayed high selectivity and sensitivity toward Au3+ with a 148-fold turn-on fluorescence response in EtOH-H2O (1:1 v/v). The stoichiometry of the chemosensor and Au3+ was 1:1 based on the Job plot analysis with the detection limit of 10.5 nM. The chemosensor is membrane permeable and capable of monitoring Au3+ in cultured HeLa cells. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.