Molecular traps based nitrobenzofurazan-appended pillar[5]arene having fluorescent sensing for biologically accumulable lanthanide ions

The effective detection of lanthanide ions is very important due to the penetration of these ions to the living cells. In this paper, novel Pillar[5]arenes, as a new fascinating class supramolecular chemistry, including ten and five nitrobenzofurazan (NBD) fragments were prepared to examine their optical behavior towards trivalent lanthanide ions. The Pillar[5]arene derivatives including ten or five NBD units were named as d-NBD-P5 and p-NBD-P5, respectively. The target macrocyclic compounds were characterized by some techniques such as NMR, melting point, FT-IR, elemental analysis and mass spectroscopy. The response of the synthesized probes towards trivalent lanthanide ions was fluorometrically examined with fluorescence spectroscopy in a half aqueous medium that the probes have especially sensitivity for two metal ions, Eu (III) and Yb (III). The confocal microscope was also used to support visually the sensitivity of d-NBD-P5 and p-NBD-P5 towards target lanthanide ions on living cells. Thus, the results obtained from the solution medium were also supported in the cell medium and both macrocyclic compounds have low toxicity.