A new hydroxynaphthyl benzothiazole derived fluorescent probe for highly selective and sensitive Cu2 + detection

•A new hydroxynaphthyl benzothiazole derived fluorescent probe BTNP has been developed.•BTNP exhibits high selectivity to Cu2 + through Cu2 + catalyzed hydrolysis.•Cu2 + detection by BTNP displays two wavelength enhancements with ratiometric behavior.•BTNP is applicable to Cu2 + detection in living cells and real water samples.

A new reactive probe, 1-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)naphthalen-2-yl-picolinate (BTNP), was designed and synthesized. BTNP acts as a highly selective probe to Cu2 + in DMSO/H2O (7/3, v/v, Tris-HCl 10 mM, pH = 7.4) solution based on Cu2 + catalyzed hydrolysis of the picolinate ester moiety in BTNP, which leads to the formation of an ESIPT active product with dual wavelength emission enhancement. The probe also possesses the advantages of simple synthesis, rapid response and high sensitivity. The pseudo-first-order reaction rate constant was calculated to be 0.205 min− 1. Moreover, application of BTNP to Cu2 + detection in living cells and real water samples was also explored.

Graphical abstractA new fluorescent probe BTNP that exhibits highly selective recognition to Cu2 + in DMSO/H2O (7/3, v/v, Tris-HCl 10 mM, pH = 7.4) solution has been developed.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide