Red-shifted activity-based sensors for ethylene via direct conjugation of fluorophore to metal–carbene

A number of Activity-Based Sensors (ABS) for relatively unreactive small molecules, such as ethylene, necessitates a transition metal for reaction under ambient conditions. Olefin metathesis has emerged as one of the primary strategies to achieve ethylene detection, and other transition metals are used for similarly challenging-to-detect analytes. However, limited studies exist investigating how fluorophore-metal attachment impacts photophysical properties of such ABS. Two new probes were prepared with the chelating benzlidene Ru–ligand directly conjugated to a BODIPY fluorophore and the photophysical properties of the new conjugated ABS were evaluated.