A naphthalimide-indole fused chromophore-based fluorescent probe for instantaneous detection of thiophenol with a red emission and a large Stokes shift

Abstract

This work presented a naphthalimide-indole fused chromophore-based fluorescent probe for the detection of thiophenol using 2,4-dinitrobenzene moiety as a sensing unit. This probe was able to work in aqueous media and instantaneously respond to thiophenol (within 5 min). In detecting thiophenol, this probe displayed a red emission (λmax = 590 nm), a 140 nm Stokes shift and a low detect limit (3.6 × 10−8 M). Furthermore, the potential ability for practical applications of this probe has been successfully demonstrated in monitoring thiophenol in living cells and in real water samples.