Zn^2＋ is an essential component for many enzymes and transcription factors, in which it plays structural or catalytic roles, so its detection is of great biological significance. The development of novel near-infrared fluorescent probe for Zn^2＋, TAEA-IR-780, was described in this paper, which was obtained by directly attaching an acceptor, tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (TAEA), to a near-infrared fluorophore IR-780. The excitation and emission wavelengths of the TAEA-IR-780 are 683 and 750 nm, respectively, and its fluorescent intensity increases with the addition of Zn^2＋ under physiological condition (pH＝7.4) and the detection limit reaches 1.0×10^－9 mol•L^－1. Moreover, the fluorescent intensity of TAEA-IR-780 does not increase no-ticeably in the presence of other biologically important cations such as Ca^2＋ and Mg^2＋. The results show that the probe can not only effectively minimize cell damage and autofluores-cence by excitation light but also afford sufficient sensitivity and selectivity for the biological detection of Zn^2＋.

Key words: near-infrared, fluorescent probe, Zn^2＋