A N-stablization rhodamine-based fluorescent chemosensor for Fe3+ in aqueous solution and its application in bioimaging

A novel rhodamine-based fluorescent probe 1 was synthesized, which was designed as a fluoroionophore and chromophore for the optical detection of Fe3+ ions in water with a broad pH span (4–8). As expected, it exhibited high selectivity and sensitivity for Fe3+ over other commonly coexistent metal ions in water. The detection limit was measured to be 1.5 μM. The significant changes in the fluorescence color could be used for naked-eye detection. Furthermore, fluorescence imaging experiments of Fe3+ ions in living MGC803 cells demonstrated its value of practical applications in biological systems.