An effective fluorescent sensor for ClO− in aqueous media based on thiophene-cyanostilbene Schiff-base

Although some reports on sensing ClO − had been presented, the ClO − sensor with high selectivity and sensitivity in aqueous media was still expected. Herein, an effective fluorescent sensor for ClO − in aqueous media was designed and synthesized by simple procedure based on cyanostilbene derivative ( TCS ). TCS exhibited strong fluorescence in aqueous media, which could be selectively quenched by ClO − among various species. The detection limit was as low as 3.2 × 10 −8 M. The sensing mechanism of the oxidation of sulfur in thiophene unit was confirmed by the FT-IR spectrum, fluorescence Job’s plot, 1 H NMR spectrum and MS spectrum. This sensor was successfully applied on detecting ClO − in real sample and living-cell imaging, suggesting its potential application for sensing ClO − in both vitro assay and vivo environment.