A new terephthaldehyde-based chemosensor 1 was synthesized which exhibits highly selective and sensitive fluorescence turn-on sensor for Cu2+ and successfully applied to the determination of Cu2+ in L929 cells.
The fluorescence sensing properties of a naphthalene-based acetohydrazide (3) were investigated. A highly selective “turn-on” response was obtained towards Al3+ ions, and this was used for real sample analysis and development of paper test strips.