Acridine-based enantioselective fluorescent sensors for the malate anion in water

Compounds S-1, S-2, S-3 and R-1 were synthesized and the interactions of all of the compounds with the malate anion were studied in H2O (comprising 0.3% DMSO and 0.01 M HEPES at pH = 7.4) by fluorescence titration experiments. Sensor S-1 was found to present good enantioselective fluorescent sensing ability towards the malate anion. The results indicated that sensor S-1 was very promising as a fluorescent sensor for recognition of the malate anion in H2O solution.