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Nerve agents are among the world's deadliest poisons, and the target enzyme is acetylcholinesterase (AChE). To better diagnosis nerve agent poisonings, a reliable diagnostic method for both nerve agents and AChE is desirable. Herein, we synthesized a series of fluorescent sensors for both real nerve agents and acetylcholinesterase activity detection. Among these sensors, HBQ-AE exhibited a fast response rate (within 10 s for nerve agent and 8 min for AChE), good sensitivity (the limit of detection is 6 nM and 0.2 U/mL) and a high off/on contrast. To the best of our knowledge, HBQ-AE is the first fluorescence sensor for nerve agents and AChE activity detection. The fluorescent change of HBQ-AE from nonfluorescence to blue fluorescence (nerve agent) or orange fluorescence (AChE) by excitation at 365 nm can be easily observed with the naked eye. HBQ-AE was successfully applied to image nerve agents and AChE activity in living cells. Moreover, HBQ-AE is the vital member to construct a test paper that can be employed to detect and diagnose chemical warfare agents. [Display omitted] • HBQ-AE is the first fluorescence sensor for nerve agents and AChE activity detection. • HBQ-AE exhibited a fast response rate (within 10 s for nerve agent and 8 min for AChE). • HBQ-AE also exhibited a high off/on contrast and good sensitivity. • Based on HBQ-AE and some other sensors, a practical test paper was developed for chemical warfare agent poisoning detection and diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NMU-1 showed excellent detection performance for nerve agent. And it was applied to develop a practical test paper that can detect various chemical warfare agents in this study. [Display omitted] • NMU-1 can detect nerve agent within 3 min. • NMU-1 exhibited good selectivity toward the nerve agent to various analytes. • The probe can be applied at the level of living cells. • NMU-1 was applied to develop a practical test paper that can detect various chemical warfare agents. Nerve agents are highly toxic chemical warfare agents that are easy to synthesize and have recently been applied many times in local wars and terrorist attacks. Fluorescent probes have been widely used in life science and medical research due to their features of short reaction time, high sensitivity and good selectivity. Herein, two fluorescent compounds, NMU-1 and NMU-2, were synthesized for the selective detection of nerve agents. NMU-1 exhibited good detection performance for nerve agents. With increasing nerve agent concentration, the fluorescence signal of NMU-1 at 498 nm gradually decreased with an excellent linear relationship. NMU-1 exhibited a low LOD (4.6 μM for DCP and 8.41 μM for soman), a rapid response (less than 3 min) and a large Stokes shift (98 nm) along with obvious color changes. Due to its high sensitivity and good selectivity, NMU-1 was successfully applied to image nerve agents in living PC12 cells. Furthermore, NMU-1 was used as a key element to develop chemical warfare agent test paper, which exhibited significant fluorescent changes under hand-held 365-nm UV light upon contact with nerve agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]