A Novel Benzimidazole-Based Fluorescence Probe for Detecting Zinc Ion in Aqueous Solution and Zebrafish

Abstract

Abstract A novel selective and sensitive chemosensor, (E)-1-((((1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)methyl)imino)methyl)naphthalen-2-ol (BIN), was developed for fluorescence detection of Zn2+. The compound BIN acts as a fluorescent “turn-on” detector for Zn2+. The limit of detection (2.26 µM) for zinc ion is well below the WHO standard (76.0 µM). Probe BIN can be chemically reversible with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). The binding mechanism of BIN with zinc ion was demonstrated by fluorescence, UV-visible, electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy, 1H NMR titration and calculations. Importantly, probe BIN could be applied to determine zinc ion in water samples and living zebrafish.