A novel dehydroabietic acid-based multifunctional fluorescent probe for the detection and bioimaging of Cu 2+ /Zn 2+ /ClO .

A multifunctional dehydroabietic acid-based fluorescent probe (CPS) was designed and synthesized by introducing the 2,6-bis(1-benzo[]imidazol-2-yl)phenol fluorophore. The probe CPS could selectively recognize Cu, Zn and ClO ions from other analytes, and it showed fluorescence quenching behavior toward Cu and a ratiometric response to Zn and ClO by changing from green fluorescence to blue and cyan, respectively. The detection limits toward Cu, Zn and ClO ions were 3.8 nM, 0.253 μM and 0.452 μM, respectively. In addition, CPS presented many fascinating merits, such as high selectivity, a short response time (15-20 s), a wide pH range (3-10) and high photostability. The sensing mechanisms of CPS were verified by H-NMR, ESI-MS, FT-IR and Job's plot methods. Meanwhile, CPS exhibited satisfactory detection performance in water samples. More importantly, the probe could be applied as a promising tool for visual bioimaging of three ions in living cells and zebrafishes.