Intramolecular fluorescence resonance energy transfer in a novel PDI–BODIPY dendritic structure: Synthesis, Hg2+ sensor and living cell imaging

•The dendritic molecular as a fluorescence probe for rapid determination of Hg(II) ion has 98% of high energy transfer efficiency.•The developed sensor is highly sensitive and selective for sensing Hg(II) ion.•The dendritic structure is novel and the design strategy will help to develop a new class of perylene diimide-based chemosensor.

A novel intramolecular fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and photo-induced electron transfer (PET) based dendritic compound PDI–BODIPY has been developed: Tetra-boron-dipyrrin (BODIPY) attached perylene bisimide by click chemistry. Compound PDI–BODIPY as a fluorescence probe for rapid, selective, and sensitive determination of Hg(II) ions has 98% of high energy transfer efficiency. The dissociation constant (Kd) of the probe PDI–BODIPY with Hg2+ is 6.67 × 10−12 M and the detection limit estimated from the titration results was 2 × 10−8 M. Moreover, the imaging of Hg(II) ions in Hela cells further certified the potential value of the probe.

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