A facile and efficient strategy for the synthesis of 5-aryl-2-(quinolin-2-yl)oxazoles via rhodium-catalyzed formal[3+2]cyclization of 4-aryl-1-tosyl-1H-1,2,3-triazoles with quinoline-2-carbaldehydes has been described.The protocol employs mild conditions and offers good yields of diverse 2,5-aryloxazole derivatives with a broad reaction scope.It is amenable to gram-scale synthesis and easily transformation.Moreover,this 5-aryl-2-(quinolin-2-yl)oxazole skeleton is indeed a new fluorophore and its applications in metal ions probes are also investigated and showed fluorescent responses to mercury ion.