In addition, the time-dependent fluorescence response of tweezers NPDM (10 μM) for Al 3+ was conducted in DMSO/H2O (7/3, v/v, 10 mM, HEPES, pH 7.0) solution. As shown in Fig. , after the introduction of Al 3+ (20 µM, 100 µM) to NPDM solution respectively, the relative fluorescence intensity (at 520 nm) of NPDM quickly reached the equilibrium within 1min. Thus, the above results clearly proved that NPDM has great potential for the quick and real-time monitoring of Al 3+ . To evaluate the practical application potential of NPDM in live organisms, the pH effect on the NPDM response to Al 3+ was examined subsequently over the pH range of 4 to 11. (Fig. ). In case of NPDM alone fluorescence intensity alterations are negligible at pH 4-11, whereas the NPDM-Al 3+ complex exhibited noticeable fluorescence enhancement, especially at pH 6-8, suggesting the practical application potential for sensing Al 3+ under physiological conditions. Finally, comparing with the recently reported Schiff-base-based fluorogenic probes for selectively sensing Al 3+ which have similar conformations, NPDM manifests the superiorities in desirable sensitivity, satisfactory LOD, large Stokes shifts, rapid response, interaction mechanism, and broad preliminary applicable potentials (Table , ESI).