N,N-dimethylaminoethylaminoanthrone – A chromofluorogenic chemosensor for estimation of Cu2+ in aqueous medium and HeLa cells imaging

Chemosensor 1 (ɛ = 13,300, Φ = 0.27) [CH3OH–HEPES buffer(4:1), pH = 7.0 ± 0.1] can selectively estimate Cu2+ both as a chromogenic “ON–OFF–ON” and fluorogenic “ON–OFF” switch under aqueous conditions. The lowest detection limit for Cu2+ is 1 μM. Other metal ions viz. Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Ba2+, Cr3+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Ag+, Hg2+, Pb2+ do not interfere in the estimation of Cu2+ even if present in 1 mM concentration. Chemosensor 1 can also be used to estimate Cu2+ ions in living HeLa cells using confocal microscopy.