A new triazole appended rhodamine chemosensor for selective detection of Cu2+ ions and live-cell imaging

The size of the chelating ligand and nature of coordinating entities of the chelating moiety have been exploited to synthesize four rhodamine based chemosensors for selective recognition of metal ions. A triazole appended colorless chemosensor turns to pink upon complex formation only with Cu2+ ions even in the presence of other competing metal ions at physiological pH, and enables naked-eye detection and imaging of live fibroblast cells exposed to Cu2+ ions.