A New Water‐Soluble Phosphorus‐Dipyrromethene and Phosphorus‐Azadipyrromethene Dye: PODIPY/aza‐PODIPY

PODIPY and aza‐PODIPY have been successfully prepared by the treatment of dipyrromethene and azadipyrromethene with POCl₃ in the presence of Et₃N. The new PODIPY and aza‐PODIPY dyes are found to have photophysical properties. PODIPY and aza‐PODIPY are water‐soluble, and aza‐PODIPY is suited for labeling living Hep‐2 cells for imaging assays in the near‐infrared region. Molecular orbital calculations show that the increase in the HOMO–LUMO band gap for the lowest energy absorption bands is observed in the new phosphorus‐containing aza‐PODIPY, and the HOMO and LUMO energies of aza‐PODIPY are found to be higher than those of aza‐BODIPY.     

A colorimetric chemosensor based on new water-soluble PODIPY dye for Hg2+ detection

The phosphorus-containing PODIPY 1 as a chemosensor can detect Hg~(2+) by a color change from pink to violet red without the use of any instrumentation. PODIPY 1 was selective to Hg~(2+)with a remarkable absorption change, and addition of other relevant metal ions caused almost no absorption change. The new PODIPY dye 1 was sensitive to various concentrations of Hg~(2+). The energy gap between the HOMO and LUMO of the metal complex 1–Hg~(2+)is smaller than that of chemosensor 1, which is in good agreement with the red shift in the absorption observed upon treatment of 1 with Hg~(2+). The 1-based test strips were easily fabricated and low-cost, useful in practical and efficient Hg~(2+)test kits.