A novel fluorescent probe for efficient detection of fluoride ions in living animal and plant tissues

Abstract

This work presents the design and synthesis of a new fluorescent probe IF-Br-F for the specific detection of fluoride ions. The IF-Br-F probe has excellent fluorescence properties, and the mechanism of the probe response to fluoride ions was successfully verified via HRMS and DFT calculations. IF-Br-F has high sensitivity and low detection limit (5.82 × 10⁻⁷ mol L⁻¹) and successfully detects fluoride ions in actual water samples. The probe can be applied to fluorescence imaging of zebrafish, cells, and Arabidopsis roots and exhibits low cytotoxicity and good biocompatibility.