Citation: Xindi Yang, Cunli Wang, Dongdong Wang, Haijuan Qin, Kuoxi Xu, Guangyan Qing. High efficiency detection of Zn²⁺ through the improved electron density of aromatic π-conjugated bridges[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(4): 111215. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111215 shu

High efficiency detection of Zn²⁺ through the improved electron density of aromatic π-conjugated bridges

Xindi Yang ^{a, b, 1} ,
Cunli Wang ^{b, 1,*,} ,
Dongdong Wang ^{b, 1} ,
Haijuan Qin ^{c, 1} ,
Kuoxi Xu ^{a, 1,*,} ,
Guangyan Qing ^{b, 1,*,}

a.
Henan Engineering Research Center of Industrial Recirculating Water Treatment, College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China
b.
CAS Key Laboratory of Separation Science for Analytical Chemistry, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
c.
Research Centre of Modern Analytical Technology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, China

wangcunli@dicp.ac.cn

xukx@henu.edu.cn

qinggy@dicp.ac.cn

Received Date: 15 January 2025
Revised Date: 8 April 2025
Accepted Date: 15 April 2025
Available Online: 17 April 2025

Figures(5)

Zinc ions (Zn²⁺) play a crucial role in maintaining human health, and their imbalance has been associated with various diseases and environmental contamination. Although many fluorescent probes have been developed for Zn²⁺ detection, they often face challenges, including short emission wavelengths, narrow Stokes shifts, and particularly the poor selectivity. Here, aromatic rings with different electron densities including benzene, thiophene and furan rings, were introduced as aromatic π-conjugated bridges to connect dicyanoisophorone (DCI) and amide-di-2-picolylamine (DPA) based structures, and three probes L1, L2 and L3 for Zn²⁺ detection were developed. Our results demonstrated that compared with L1, L2 and L3, which inserting thiophene and furan rings, revealed near-infrared (NIR) emission at 651 nm, and a larger Stokes shift of 187 nm. Notably, different from L2, L3, which incorporated a furan ring with the highest electron density, exhibited the highest selectivity for Zn²⁺ with a low detection limit of 31 nmol/L. In addition, the binding mode of L3 with Zn²⁺ was confirmed in the form of an imidic acid tautomer. Furthermore, L3 was successfully applied in cellular imaging, validating its potential for in vivo bioimaging. This study presents a promising strategy for developing high-performance Zn²⁺ probes by simply modifying the aromatic π-conjugated bridges.
- Zn²⁺,
- Fluorescent probe,
- π-Conjugated bridge,
- Near-infrared,
- Large Stokes shift,
- High selectivity
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沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院沈阳 110142

High efficiency detection of Zn2+ through the improved electron density of aromatic π-conjugated bridges

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通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com

High efficiency detection of Zn²⁺ through the improved electron density of aromatic π-conjugated bridges