A solvent-tuning fluorescence sensor for In（Ⅲ） and Al（Ⅲ） ions and its bioimaging application

A fluorescence-enhanced probe PY, which is based on integration of pyrene moiety and amino acid group,was developed for the orthogonal recognition of In3＋ and Al3＋ by the quick formation of 1：1 complex. PY shows high selectivity and sensitivity for In3＋ in NaOAc/HOAc（pH 4.8） buffer solution but rather for Al3＋ in methanol. Moreover, this probe shows good cell permeability, and the recognition of In3＋ by PY was successfully applied in bioimaging, which was the first example for detection of this metal ion in living cells.