Some heavy metal ions can be toxic to the environment and organisms even with low concentrations, thus, it is of great significance to study trace metal ion recognition. Because of its good selectivity, high sensitivity, low cost and real-time response, the fluorescence sensor has been widely applied. A novel class salen ligand L1 was synthesized with 2,4-di-tert-butyl-phenol, 3,5-di-tert-butyl-salicylaldehyde and 2-aminothiophenol. Its structure was characterized with1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR, elemental analysis and X-ray single crystal techniques. The single crystal structure of ligand L1 was obtained with free evaporation method, and the experimental results show that L1 is a hole plane［ONSO］ four coordination environment of three inclined and P-1 space group. The recognition properties of the target compound L1 with metal ions (Li+, Na+, K+, Cd2+, Cs+, Co2+, Cu2+, Hg2+, Mn2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, Ag+) had been investigated with fluorescence spectrophotometry. The binding of L1 to Zn2+ are in 1∶1 stoichometry. The results showed that L1 exhibited the selective recognition to Zn2+, and the detection limit was down to 501×10-5 mol·L-1.