A facile and efficient optical fluorescent probe [(2,2′-((propane-2,2-diylbis(6-vinyloxy)-3,1-(phenylene))bis(methaneylylidene))dimalanonitrile] (BMC) was designed and synthesized to sense Hg2+ ions via intramolecular cyclization process. The synthesized probe BMC exhibits a selective and sensitive absorption and emission wavelength for Hg2+ ions in presence of other competitive ions with the LOD of 18.4 nM. The control compound BM was also synthesized and the spectral properties were compared with BMC + Hg2+ ions solution. Moreover, the excellent specificity nature of the probe BMC contributes its usage towards the detection of Hg2+ ions in real samples and live HeLa cancer cells visualization. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.