A novel reversible fluorescent probe for Cu2+ and S2− ions and imaging in living cells

A novel fluorescent probe TSOC (thiazole salicylaldehyde oxazole chlorinated) was synthesized based on benzothiazole conjugated olefinic bonds with salicylicaldehyde unit as fluorophore and a phenyl oxazole unit as bonding unit. The probe could reversibly detect of Cu2+ and S2− over other common ions with longer emission and large stokes shift in an aqueous solution at pH 7.3 (DMSO-Hepes, v/v, 5:1, 10 mM). The bonding mechanism was supported through the titration experiment of fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy, 1H-NMR titration, HR-MS and DFT calculations. Moreover, the probe further exhibited good cell permeability and were successfully used to visualize Cu2+ and S2− in living cells.