Carbazole-thiophene based fluorescent probe for selective detection of Cu2+ and its live cell imaging

Haifei Wang; Panpan Wang; Liangfeng Niu; Chunhui Liu; Yingzhe Xiao; Ying Tang; Yao Chen

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2022.121257

Carbazole-thiophene based fluorescent probe for selective detection of Cu²⁺ and its live cell imaging

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2022 Oct 5:278:121257. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2022.121257. Epub 2022 Apr 22.

Authors

Haifei Wang¹, Panpan Wang², Liangfeng Niu³, Chunhui Liu³, Yingzhe Xiao⁴, Ying Tang⁵, Yao Chen⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Life Sciences and Chemistry, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412008, PR China.
² College of Packaging and Materials Engineering, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, PR China.
³ Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion of Henan Province, Institute of Surface Micro and Nano Materials, College of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Xuchang University, Henan 461000, PR China.
⁴ College of Packaging and Materials Engineering, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, PR China. Electronic address: xiaoyingzhe74@qq.com.
⁵ College of Life Sciences and Chemistry, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412008, PR China. Electronic address: yingtang@hnu.edu.cn.
⁶ College of Life Sciences and Chemistry, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412008, PR China. Electronic address: chenyao717@hnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 35537255
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2022.121257

Abstract

Highly sensitive and specific imaging of copper ion (Cu²⁺) in living cells is essential for better understanding the physiological and metabolic processes. We develop a novel fluorescent probe based on carbazole-thiophene for specific Cu²⁺ detection in living cells. Job's plot and density functional theory (DFT) confirmed a stoichiometric ratio of 2:1 between the probe molecules and Cu²⁺. This probe exhibits strong fluorescence in aqueous media, while its fluorescence intensity significantly decreased in the presence of Cu²⁺. An in vitro assay shows that the fluorescent probe has rapid response within 5 s and high sensitivity for the detection of Cu²⁺ in the range from 1 to 10 μM with a detection limit of 0.29 μM. Live cell studies reveal that the fluorescent probe has good cell-membrane permeability and can successfully visualize the fluctuation of the intracellular Cu²⁺ concentration. In addition, the fluorescent probe has low cytotoxicity, which may provide a new tool for monitoring other analytes in living cells.

Keywords: Carbazole; Copper; Fluorescent probe; Live cells; Thiophene.

MeSH terms

Carbazoles
Copper / metabolism
Fluorescent Dyes*
Spectrometry, Fluorescence / methods
Thiophenes*

Substances

Carbazoles
Fluorescent Dyes
Thiophenes
Copper