A curcumin derivative ligand,1,7-bis（3-methoxyl-4-oxyethylacetate）phenyl-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-diketone（diethyl acetatecurcumin,abbreviated as HL）,and its Cu（II） and Zn（II） complexes have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses,infrared（IR）,1H NMR and molar conductivity.The experimental results show that the resulting complexes bear strong two-photon excited fluorescence（TPEF） in N,N-dimethyformamide solvent,which has been proven to be potentially useful for two-photon microscopy imaging in living cells.In addition,cytotoxicity tests show that the low-micromolar concentrations of metal-ligand complex（ML2） did not cause significant reduction in cell viability over a period of,at least,24 h and should be safe for further biological studies.
