Recent progress on fluorescent chemosensors for metal ions

The recognition and sensing of the biologically and environmentally important metal ions has emerged as a significant goal in the field of chemical sensors in recent years. Among the various analytical methods, fluorescence has been a powerful tool due to its simplicity, high detection limit and application to bioimaging. This review highlights the fluorescent chemosensors for metal ions, which have been recently developed from our laboratory. This review was categorized by target metal ions, such as Cu2+, Hg2+, Zn2+, Pb2+, Cd2+, Vanadate, Ag+ and Au3+. Selectivity and sensitivity for these metal ions were achieved by introducing various ligands to core fluorophores, such as, rhodamine, fluorescein, pyrene, anthracene, naphthalimide, coumarin, and BODIPY. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.