Thiourea-cyanostilbene derivative: An effective fluorescent sensor for Pd2+ in aqueous media

Although some Pd 2+ sensors were presented, the in-situ and real-time examination of Pd 2+ based on fluorescent sensor is still a challenging task. In this work, a novel thiourea-cyanostilbene derivative ( TCS ) was designed and synthesized as the effective fluorescent sensor on in-situ and real-time sensing Pd 2+ in aqueous media. TCS possessed good AIE fluorescence in THF/H 2 O solution. The fluorescence was selectively quenched by Pd 2+ among all kinds of metallic ions . The sensing mechanism of 1:1 stoichiometry ratio for TCS with Pd 2+ was confirmed by Job's plot, 1 H NMR and MS spectra. The detection limit was as low as 4.32 × 10 −8  M. TCS exhibited the good sensing application for Pd 2+ in tested paper and simulated samples with low errors. TCS had the excellent fluorescence imaging performance in living cells with the fluorescence imaging response on Pd 2+ . This research not only reported an effective fluorescence sensor for Pd 2+ , but also suggested the good application prospect on in-situ and real-time sensing Pd 2+ in complicated environment.