Focused fluorescent probe library for metal cations and biological anions.

A focused fluorescent probe library for metal cations was developed by combining metal chelators and picolinium/quinolinium moieties as combinatorial blocks connected through a styryl group. Furthermore, metal complexes derived from metal chelators having high binding affinities for metal cations were used to construct a focused probe library for phosphorylated biomolecules. More than 250 fluorescent probes were screened for identifying an ultraselective probe for dTTP.