“On–off–on” pyrene-based fluorescent chemosensor for the selective recognition of Cu2+ and S2− ions and its utilization in live cell imaging

A new “on–off–on” fluorescence chemosensor (DPD) was designed, synthesized, and characterized based on pyrene and benzothiozole hydrazide. The probe DPD shows high affinity towards Cu²⁺ ions and the DPD-Cu²⁺ ensemble shows high sensitivity towards S²⁻ ions through the displacement method in the presence of other interfering ions. The detection limits of DPD for Cu²⁺ and S²⁻ ions were found to be 0.73 and 0.87 nM, respectively. Furthermore, the receptor was effectively applied to recognize Cu²⁺ and S²⁻ ions in real samples and live A549 cells through imaging studies.