A coumarin-based "turn-on" fluorescent sensor for the determination of Al3+: single crystal X-ray structure and cell staining properties.

An efficient Al(3+) receptor, 6-(2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)-2H-chromen-2-one (HBC), has been synthesized by condensing salicylaldehyde with 6-aminocoumarin. The molecular structure of HBC has been determined by a single crystal X-ray analysis. It was established that in the presence of Al(3+), HBC shows 25 fold enhancement of fluorescence intensity which might be attributed to the chelation-enhanced fluorescence (CHEF) process. HBC binds Al(NO3)3 in a 1 : 1 stoichiometry with a binding constant (K) of 7.9 × 10(4) M(-1). Fe(3+) and Mn(2+) quench the emission intensity of the [HBC + Al(3+)] system to an insignificant extent at a concentration 10 times higher compared to that of Al(3+). HBC is highly efficient in the detection of intracellular Al(3+) under a fluorescence microscope.