Pseudo‐Crown Ethers as Novel Scaffolds for the Development of Al3+‐Selective Fluorescent Probes

Herein, we report the systematic evaluation of the BODIPY series functionalized with pseudo‐crown ethers against metal cations and assessment of their potential as novel off‐on fluorescent probes selective for aluminum(III) cations. Novel chelating groups promising for the design of Al3+‐selective fluorescent probes are proposed. A series of BODIPY probes with pseudo‐crown based chelating groups was studied. Some probes exhibited good selectivity to Al3+ among others alkali and alkaline earth metal ions. The high sensitivity of the probes with detection limit of 1.6–3.8 µM was determined.