<p>The synthesis of a novel pyridine-2,6-dicarboxyester derivative of 5-(4-hydroxyphenyl)bodipy has been realized and its ion recognition properties were evaluated against various ions by absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry techniques. It has been found that the pyridine-bodipy conjugate has spectroscopic response against CN⁻, F⁻, OH⁻, and OAc⁻ ions as decrease in both the absorption and emission intensities. In addition, Cu²⁺ cation also has decremental effect on emission intensity of the conjugate and this change has been supported by cyclic voltammetry analyses as the oxidation potential diminishes. Further, DFT studies were carried out in order to optimize the conjugate structure at the HSEH1PBE/6–31 + G** theory level and HOMO–LUMO band gap values were calculated by both experimentally and theoretically.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>