A chemosensor is reported with high sensitivity and selectivity for detection of fluoride anion. The recognition mechanism is attributed to a fluoride-triggered disruption of the hydrogen bond between imidazole and naphthalimide moieties, resulting in a noncoplanar geometry with low fluorescence.

The naphthalimide derivative 1 was designed as a fluorescence PET sensor for Zn(II); 1 showed excellent selectivity for Zn(II) at pH 7.4, even in the presence of other competitive cations, the emission, being pH independent above pH 3.5, was switched on upon Zn(II) recognition.

A naphthalimide-based fluorescent ensemble probe NPC for selectively detecting His in aqueous solution (10 mM HEPES, pH 7.4) has been reported. Moreover, the application of NPC in in vivo (both in Hela cells and in C. elegans) fluorescence imaging was carried out as well.

A naphthalimide-naphthyridine derivative has been synthesized for the detection of hydroxyl radicals. It can distinguish hydroxyl radicals from other reactive oxygen species with high selectivity and short response time. Moreover, it has no cellular toxicity, and can be effectively used for intracellular detection of hydroxyl radicals.

The fluorescence of a designed water-soluble 4-sulfonato-1,8-naphthalimide dye can be switched on by the synchronous host-guest complexation with cucurbit[7]uril and decrease in pH (from 9 to 7). This affords a dual resettable (by addition of cadaverine as competitor or by deprotonation) logic gate based on modulation of photoinduced electron transfer.

In this work, a 1,8-naphthalimide-derived fluorescent probe for H2S based on the thiolysis of dinitrophenyl ether is reported. This probe exhibits turn-on fluorescence detection of H2S in bovine serum and lysosome-targetable fluorescent imaging of H2S with excellent selectivity.

A novel electrochemically and fluorescence active boronic ester sensor molecule has been developed containing ferrocene and naphthalimide as the redox and fluorophore units. The combinations of iron (Fe(3+)) ions, sodium L-ascorbate, and fluoride (F(-)) ions can be used to produce a molecular system displaying INHIBIT logic, due to indirect fluorescence quenching.

A series of "long-chain" 1-(2-methoxyphenyl)piperazine derivatives containing an environment-sensitive fluorescent moiety (4-amino-1,8-naphthalimide, 4-dimethylaminophthalimide, dansyl) was synthesized. The compounds displayed very high to moderate 5-HT(1A) receptor affinity and good fluorescence properties. 6-Amino-2-[5-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl)-1-piperazinyl]pentyl]-1H-benz[de]isoquinoline-1,3(2H)...

A Cu(II)-sensing, ratiometric, and selective fluorescent sensor 1, N-butyl-4,5-di[(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)amino]-1,8-naphthalimide, was designed and synthesized on the basis of the mechanism of internal charge transfer (ICT). In aqueous ethanol solutions of 1, the presence of Cu(II) induces the formation of a 1:1 metal-ligand complex, which exhibits a strong, increasing fluorescent emission centere...