A new fluorescent probe, DQCd2, based on 4-piperidinoquinoline has been synthesized as a fluorescent probe for Cd2+. It can ratiometrically respond to Cd2+ in PBS buffer by a remarkable emission intensity enhancement (88-fold) and wavelength shift (70 nm). (C) 2013 Lin Xue and Hua Jiang. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.