A rhodamine-based highly specific fluorescent probe for the in situ and in vivo imaging of the biological signalling molecule salicylic acid.

We reported two simple rhodamine-based colourimetric sensors for the first time which can selectively and sensitively detect salicylic acid (SA) under naked-eye detection. We proposed two distinctly different modes to elucidate the possible mechanism for monitoring SA. The rationally designed probes can be well exploited in signalling SA in living cell lines.