Design and synthesis of anthracene-based bispyridinium amides: anion binding, cell staining and DNA interaction studiesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Spectral data of receptors 1-4. Figures showing the change in fluorescence and UV-vis spectra of receptors 1-4, Job plots of 1-4 with anions from fluorescence and UV-vis. Selected binding constant curves from fluorescence and UV-vis. ROSEY spectra of receptors 1-4. 1H NMR spectra for interaction study. 31P NMR of H2PO4− with

The design and synthesis of anthracene labeled bispyridinium amides 1-4 along with their anion binding, cell staining and DNA interaction studies are reported. All the chemosensors exhibit significant response towards H 2 PO 4 − in CH 3 CN. Furthermore, sensors 2 and 3 are quite interesting for the selective sensing of aliphatic dicarboxylates. Among these compounds, 1 is found to be useful in cell staining. Also all of them exhibit significant interaction with DNA. All these properties are found to be dependent on the nature of the spacer that holds the pyridinium binding sites. The design and synthesis of anthracene labeled bispyridinium amides 1-4 along with their anion binding, cell staining and DNA interaction studies are reported.