An excellent red-emissive BODIPY dye containing a benzo[2,1,3]thiadiazole bridge was synthesized, and its sensing ability toward metal cations was investigated in detail. It can work as a highly selective probe for Hg2+ detected by the naked eye, with evident solution color and photoluminescence changes.
![Graphical abstract: An excellent BODIPY dye containing a benzo[2,1,3]thiadiazole bridge as a highly selective colorimetric and fluorescent probe for Hg2+ with naked-eye detection](http://hg.y866.cn/compound/lib/scimg/usr/1/C0NJ00850H.jpg)
