A novel quinoline derivative as a highly selective and sensitive fluorescent sensor for Fe3+ detection

In this research, a novel selective and sensitive fluorescent sensor for detecting Fe3+ was designed and synthesized; it revealed an obvious fluorescence quenching effect upon addition of Fe3+, and possessed the quantitative analysis ability on account of the formation of a 1 : 1 metal–ligand complex. Furthermore, the density functional theory calculations were utilized to study the molecular orbitals as well as the spatial structure. Simultaneously, the cell experiments and zebra fish experiments verified the application value of the sensor in the biological field.