A fluorescent sensor-based tripodal-Bodipy for Cu (II) ions: bio-imaging on cells.

A general synthetic method was improved to synthesize a chemosensor based on a tripodal Bodipy (t-BODIPY) structure. The product and its intermediate products were successfully prepared and fully characterized. The metal ion sensing performance of the tripodal compound was evaluated by UV/Vis and fluorescence spectroscopies. According to the obtained data, t-BODIPY is a selective and sensitive fluorescence probe for detection of Cu2+ ions in the presence and in the absence of competing ions. This chemosensor presents relatively a low detection limit of 5.4×10-7 M for Cu2+. Bio-imaging studies on living yeast cells suggest that t-BODIPY has some advantages over other chemosensors to recognize copper (II) ions.