A naphthalene derivative as ‘turn-on’ fluorescent chemosensor for the highly selective and sensitive detection of Al3+

A Schiff base compound derived from naphthalene has been synthesized and characterized as an Al3+-selective fluorescent probe. The chemosensor (L) exhibits high selectively for Al3+ in aqueous solution, even in the presence of biologically relevant cations such as Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Pb2+ and several transition metal ions. There was no observed interference from anions like Br−, Cl−, HSO3−, SO32−, S2O32−, NO2−, CO32− and AC−. The lowest detection limit for the chemosensor L was found to be 1.89 × 10−8 M with a linear response towards Al3+ over a concentration range of 5 × 10−6 to 4 × 10−5 M. Furthermore, the proposed chemosensor has been used for imaging of Al3+ in two different types of cells with satisfying results, which further demonstrates its value for practical application in biological systems.