A new Rhodamine-based probe, Rhoda-P affords remarkably selective chromo- and fluorogenic responses in the presence of Zn2+ with the color turning from colorless (lambda(max) = 302 nm) to orange (lambda(max) = 528 nm) and the fluorescence output increased by 160-fold at 1.5 x 10(-3) M of Zn2+. In contrast, Li+, Na+, K+, Ba2+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, and Cd2+ did not significantly alter the photophysical properties of the probe even at relatively higher concentrations than Zn2+.