A fluorescent chemosensor for relay recognition of Fe3+ and PO43− in aqueous solution and its applications

A novel fluorescent probe XDS based on 4-methylumbelliferone and 2-picolylamine platforms has been designed and synthesized, which behaves fast relay recognition of Fe 3+ and PO 4 3− via a fluorescence “on−off−on” response signal. Probe XDS exhibited very high sensitivity and unique selectivity for Fe 3+ over other common metal ions , and the detection limit of was 3.2 × 10 −7  M. Moreover, the addition of the PO 4 3− ions could cause the recovery of fluorescence. This relay recognition feature of probe XDS has potential applications in the determination of trace amount of Fe 3+ and PO 4 3− in environmental systems. Interestingly, fluorescence imaging experiments demonstrated that the probe XDS can also be used to monitoring the intracellular Fe 3+ in RAMOS cells.