A thioether containing reversible fluorescence “turn-on” chemosensor for selective detection of zinc(II): Applications in live cell imaging and inhibit logic gate

Abstract

Abstract A new fluorescence probe (H2L) is designed and synthesized for efficient and selective detection of Zn(II). H2L exhibits a “turn-on” fluorescence response with substantial enhancement of emission intensity with Zn2+ even in presence of other coexisting cations found in various environmental and biological samples. The calculated value of limit of detection (LOD) is 1.73\xa0×\xa010−9\xa0M. Exploiting the reversibility of the probe in presence of EDTA, an INHIBIT logic gate is constructed with Zn2+ and EDTA as chemical inputs. DFT and TDDFT calculations are used to interpret electronic structures and elucidate the sensing mechanism. Cytotoxicity study by MTT method with human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7) reveals that H2L has negligible toxicity in low concentration levels and can be effectively used for live cell imaging.