A new fluorescent chemodosimeter for ultra-sensitive determination of toxic thiophenols in environmental water samples and cancer cells

•A red emitting fluorescent chemodosimeter for specific detection of toxic PhSH.•The chemodosimeter monitored environmentally harmful PhSH with extremely low LOD (9.8 nM).•Good recovery was achieved in the determination of PhSH in real water samples.•The chemodosimeter determined trace PhSH in living cells with low cytoxicity and good performance.

A novel fluorescent chemodosimeter for thiophenols has been readily developed from a red emitting Indole-BODIPY. The chemodosimeter displays a significant fluorescence turn-on response towards thiophenols based on nucleophilic substitution reaction. A linear relationship was obtained between the fluorescence intensity and the concentrations of thiophenols ranging from 0 to 1.8 μM. The chemodosimeter can determine thiophenols (4-fluorothiophenol, 4-methoxybenzenethiol, p-toluenethiol) with high selectivity, fast response (within 8 min) and extremely low limit of detection (9.8 nM). The chemodosimeter was successfully used to determine the level of thiophenol (PhSH) in industrial wastewater and Bohai Sea water with good recoveries. Furthermore, the chemodosimeter was employed to image thiophenols in cancer cells with good performance and low cytotoxicity. Therefore, this chemodosimeter has great potential application in environment.

Graphical abstractA red emitting fluorescent chemodosimeter for specific detection of toxic thiophenols in environmental water samples and living cells with extremely low detection of limit.Download high-res image (181KB)Download full-size image