A differentially selective probe for trivalent chemosensor upon single excitation with cell imaging application: potential applications in combinatorial logic circuit and memory devices.

A new rhodamine 6G-benzylamine-based sensor (L), having only hydrocarbon skeletons in the extended part, was synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray crystallographic study. It exhibited excellent selective and sensitive recognition of trivalent metal ions M (M = Fe, Al and Cr) over mono- and di-valent and other trivalent metal ions. A large enhancement of the fluorescence intensity for Fe (41-fold), Al (31-fold) and Cr (26-fold) was observed upon the addition of 3.0 equivalent of these metal ions into the probe in HO/CHCN (4 : 1, v/v, pH 7.2) with naked eye detection. The corresponding K values were evaluated to be 9.4 × 10 M (Fe), 1.34 × 10 M (Al) and 8.7 × 10 M (Cr). Quantum yields of the L, [L-Fe], [L-Al] and [L-Cr] complexes in HO/CHCN (4 : 1, v/v, pH 7.2) were found to be 0.012, 0.489, 0.376 and 0.310, respectively, using rhodamine-6G as standard. LODs for Fe, Al and Cr were determined by 3σ methods and found to be 1.28, 1.34 and 2.28 μM, respectively. Cyanide ion scavenged Fe from the [Fe-L] complex and quenched its fluorescence via its ring-closed spirolactam form. Advanced level molecular logic devices using different inputs (2 and 4 inputs) as advanced level logic gates and memory devices were constructed. The large enhancement in fluorescence emission of L upon complexation with M metal ions makes the probe suitable for the bio-imaging of M (M = Fe, Al and Cr) in living cells.