A novel acridine-based fluorescent probe for the cascade recognition of Cr3+ and PO43−

• A novel Cr3+ fluorescent sensor based on acridine was developed.
• The L-Cr3+ complex also displayed a high selectivity to PO43− by the displacement approach.
• L and L-Cr3+ could be applied for water analysis and the living cell imaging.

A novel fluorescent probe (L) based on acridine was rationally designed and synthesized. The fluorescent probe exhibited good selectivity and sensitivity toward Cr3+ in methanol. Meanwhile, the L-Cr3+ solution also displayed excellent selectivity to PO43− by a displacement approach. Moreover, the probe L could be used in neutral methanol aqueous medium, which had potential applications in biological and environmental systems. More importantly, both L and the L-Cr3+ complex had cell permeability and were successfully demonstrated in living MGC-803 cells for the detection of Cr3+ and PO43−, respectively.

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