A rhodamine-based turn-on fluorescence probe (RBD4) was synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and ESI–MS.
The X-ray crystal structure analyses exhibit the spirolactone of fluorescent sensor RBD4.
Highly selective towards Cd2+ ion over other metal ions conformed by XRD, SEM, EDAX and FT–IR studies.
The 1:1 stoichiometric structure between RBD4 and Cd2+ were supported by Job's plot, Benesi-Hildebrand plot and DFT theoretical calculations.
RBD4 fluorescent sensor was used in imaging Cd2+ in cultured HeLa cells.