Ratiometric and absolute water-soluble fluorescent tripodal zinc sensor and its application in killing human lung cancer cells.

A new "naked-eye" and ratiometric fluorescent zinc sensor (TAQ) of carboxamidoquinoline with 2-chloro-N-(quinol-8-yl)-acetamide as a receptor was designed and synthesized. The sensor shows good water solubility and high selectivity for sensing; about a 15-fold increase in fluorescence quantum yield and a 100 nm red-shift of fluorescence emission upon binding Zn²⁺ in aqueous HEPES buffer solution are observed. The human lung cancer cell line (A549) activity is also demonstrated.