We report a supramolecular zinc(II)tetraarylporphyrin-oligothymidine/metal ion system (ZnPorT8/M 2+ ) for dual optical sensing of cysteine (Cys) and glutathione (GSH) with a tunable spectroscopic outcome.Transition metal ions (M 2+ ¼ Hg 2+ or Cu 2+ ) allow the switching of the emission and absorption response of the ZnPorT8/M 2+ complex. The ZnPorT8/Hg 2+ complex exhibits turn-on fluorescence sensing (fluorescence enhancement), whilst the ZnPorT8/Cu 2+ system exhibits turn-off sensing (emission quenching) of Cys and GSH. The ZnPorT8/Hg 2+ and ZnPorT8/Cu 2+ complexes have an excellent limit of detection (LOD(em)) for Cys (5.95 nM and 11.99 nM, respectively) and GSH (3.34 nM and 13.50 nM, respectively). † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: UV-vis absorption and emission spectra of ZnPorT8/Hg 2+ and ZnPorT8/Cu 2+ complexes titrated with different amino acids. See
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