Bimodal fluorescence signaling based on control of the excited-state conformational twisting and the ground-state protonation processes

Amino-based fluoroionophores 1 and 2 can selectively sense alkaline earth metal ions in MeCN under both neutral and acidic conditions by different signaling mechanisms. The fluoroionophoric behavior for the neutral probes is characterized by an ‘off–on’ photoinduced electron transfer (PET)-like fluorescence intensity response due to a switching from a twisted internal charge transfer (TICT) to a planar internal charge transfer (PICT) state. For the protonated probes (i.e., 1/H+ and 2/H+), the fluorescing species is the localized stilbene fluorophores, but dual fluorescence is induced upon metal-ion recognition through a deprotonation process.