A flexible tripod fluorescent probe for multiple cations detection and its application in living cells.

To the flexible tripod platform tren (tris(2-aminoethyl)amine), a Rhodamine and two naphthalene fluorophores were introduced. The resulting fluorescence probe named TRN was fully characterized and employed in cell imaging. Probe TRN exhibited high selectivity and excellent sensitivity for the simultaneous fluorescence detection of Zn2+/Hg2+/Al3+/Cu2+. The significant changes in the fluorescence color make naked-eye detection possible. Furthermore, fluorescence imaging experiments of Zn2+/Hg2+/Al3+/Cu2+ in living PC3 cells demonstrated its value for practical applications in biological systems.