A Sensitive Probe of <italic>Meso</italic>-Cyanophenyl Substituted BODIPY Derivative as Fluorescent Chemosensor for the Detection of Multiple Heavy Metal Ions.

A fluorescent turn-on chemosensor (<bold>BA</bold>) was constructed by attaching bis(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)-amine (DPA) unit to the BODIPY scaffold. It can give a prominent green/yellow fluorescent response selectivity with each of Zn2+/Hg2+/Cd2+/Ca2+/Mn2+/Pb2+/Al3+. The 1:1 stoichiometry of <bold>BA</bold> and metal ions was drawn from the analysis of Job’s plot. The limit detection of <bold>BA</bold> in recognition of Zn2+/Hg2+/Cd2+/Ca2+/Mn2+/Pb2+/Al3+ is ranged in 50.8-146.6 nM. There exists a linear relationship between the fluorescence intensity and concentration of metal ions (Zn2+: 4-15 µM). The mechanism of fluorescence signal “turn-on” is based on the photo induced transfer (PET) in the excited state of <bold>BA</bold>. The coordinated metal ions significantly weakened the electron-donating ability nitrogen atom in DPA, thus recovering the emission character of BODIPY. The substituted group at the phenyl ring in <italic>meso</italic>-position of BODIPY scaffold determines the recognizable list of metal ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]