Dual-channel fluorescent probe based on bisphenol A-rhodamine for Zn2+ and Hg2+ through different signaling mechanisms and its bioimaging studies

•A novel dual channel fluorescent probe BAR was synthesized and characterized.•BAR showed highly selective and sensitive response toward Zn2+ and Hg2+.•While Zn2+ ion caused the blue emission, Hg2+ ion induced the red emission in different solvent media.•BAR was also used as bio-imaging fluorescent probe in human prostate cancer cell lines.

A novel dual channel probe based on bisphenol A-rhodamine (BAR) was successfully designed and synthesized with high selectivity and sensitivity to Zn2+ and Hg2+ ions. BAR exhibited an effectively selective and sensitive recognition toward Zn2+ and Hg2+ ions through two different mechanisms (i.e. ESIPT and FRET) in pure MeCN and MeCN-H2O (v/v = 8/2, 5 mM, HEPES, pH 7.0) over other cations. The complexation properties of BAR with Zn2+ and Hg2+ ions were examined by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and FTIR experiments. The detection limits for Zn2+ and Hg2+ were 2.21 and 2.16 μM, respectively. Furthermore, possible utilization of BAR as bio-imaging fluorescent probe to detect Hg2+ in human prostate cancer cell lines was also observed by Fluorescent Cell Imager.

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