The synthesis of 10 novel iron-specific fluorescent probes is described, where the fluorescent moiety is merged with chelating entity of the molecule. These compounds have been developed in order to replace the traditional fluorescent probes for the quantification of intracellular labile iron pools. An evaluation of the effect of iron as well as other metals on the probes has been undertaken. The relatively low pKa values of the ligands result from an inductive effect of the amido group at 6-position. As a result of the decreased competition with protons, the pFe3+ values are correspondingly increased. These ligands chelate iron tightly.