The present article describes the synthesis of new asymmetrically substituted 5,5′′-diaryl-2,2′:6′,2′′–terpyridines as prospective chemosensors/probes for the fluorescence “turn-on” detections of Zn²⁺. After the fluorescence titration experiments two most representative terpyridines, namely 4-phenyl-1-(6-(4-p-tolyl-6,7-dihydro-5H-cyclopenta[c]-pyridin-1-yl)pyridin-2-yl)-6,7-dihydro-5H-cyclopenta[c]pyridine and 5-phenyl-5′′-p-tolyl-2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine were selected based on high binding constant up to 10⁶ M⁻¹ for the 1:2 (Zn²⁺ : ligand) complexes along with the limits of detection (LOD) as low as ∼0.1 × 10^-9 M. These ligands have been further used as fluorescence probes for the qualitative and quantitative detection of Zn²⁺ in real samples, such as food/cosmetic samples and human urine. For all the samples, these probes exhibited an intensive fluorescence enhancement via the effective transduction LE-TICT-switching signal. The stoichiometry and structure of the Zn²⁺ complexes were supported by DFT calculations and ¹H NMR experiments.

本文描述了新的不对称取代的5,5''-二芳基-2,2'：6'，2''-三联吡啶的合成，作为预期的化学传感器/探针，用于Zn ²⁺的荧光“开启”检测。经过荧光滴定实验后，两个最有代表性的三联吡啶为：4-苯基-1-（6-（4-对甲苯基-6,7-二氢-5 H-环戊[ c ]-吡啶-1-基）吡啶-2 （-基）-6,7-二氢-5 H-环戊基[ c ]吡啶和5-苯基-5''-对甲苯基-2,2'：6'，2''-吡啶是基于高结合力而选择的常数高达10 ⁶中号^-1为1:2（锌²⁺：配体）以及低至〜0.1×10 ^-9 M的检出限（LOD）。这些配体还被用作荧光探针，用于定性和定量检测真实样品（例如食品）中的Zn ²⁺ /化妆品样品和人尿。对于所有样品，这些探针均通过有效的LE-TICT转换信号转导显示出强烈的荧光增强。DFT计算和¹ H NMR实验证实了Zn ²⁺配合物的化学计量和结构。