Dual Fluorophore Containing Efficient Photoinduced Electron Transfer Based Molecular Probe for Selective Detection of Cr3+ and PO4 3- Ions through Fluorescence " Turn-On-Off" Response in Partial Aqueous and Biological Medium: Live Cell Imaging and Logic Application

Abstract

The present work describes a new photoinduced electron transfer (PET) based molecular probe in which naphthalimide (NPI) and anthracene (AN) chromophores are linked through a molecular bridge of piperazine and triazole units by the Click reaction. A typical meaningful structural variation has made the present probe highly selective for Cr3+ ion (limit of detection (LOD), 5.567 × 10-8 M) that displayed enhanced, "turn-On" emission (due to the PET-Off photophysical mechanism) and naked-eye sensitive bright green color fluorescence in the environment of interfering and competitive ions, in Tris-HCl buffer. The minimum energy structure obtained through theoretical calculations (density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent (TD)-DFT) revealed a "tub" shape structure for probe 10. Upon complexation, the conformation of piperazine fragment changes from chair to boat in which the triazole and piperazine units create a cavity to tether Cr3+. Moreover, the probe showed excellent biocompatibility and cell permeability to sense Cr3+ sensitively in live cells and, thus, holds great promise for application in biological and environmental sciences. Additionally, the sensitive "Off-On-Off" sensing behavior of probe 10 providing two chemical inputs (Cr3+ and PO4 3-) helps to construct an INHIBIT logic gate. Also the probe has been utilized as printing material to decode secret information through the Cr3+ ion containing "marker ink" under UV light. © 2018 American Chemical Society.