A novel lipid droplets-targeting fluorescent probe based on dicyanisophorone and carbazole for Cu2+ and its application

A novel fluorescent probe, LCH , based on dicyanisophorone and carbazole, was prepared for the visual detection of Cu 2+ . The probe LCH could recognize Cu 2+ by fluorescence quenching in EtOH/H 2 O (1/4, v/v) solution, which could be easily identified under the 365 nm UV lamp, and the detection limit was as low as 0.785 μM. The recognition mechanism of probe LCH with Cu 2+ was determined by combining 1 H NMR titration, MS, and theoretical calculations. Practical application experiments showed that probe LCH could be used to detect Cu 2+ in the test strip experiments. Cell imaging experiments showed that the probe LCH owned good cell permeability and could be applied to the imaging of Cu 2+ in HepG2 cells. In addition, fluorescence colocalization experiments showed that LCH could target lipid droplets. These results indicate that the probe LCH will have a good application prospect in environmental detection and clinical medicine.