Engineering of a novel D-A type fluorophore with hydrogen bond-induced enhanced emission property for sensitively detecting endogenous HOCl in living cells and tissues

Anal Bioanal Chem. 2023 Jul;415(18):4185-4196. doi: 10.1007/s00216-023-04550-9. Epub 2023 Jan 28.

Abstract

Fluorescence imaging has been widely employed for biomedical research and clinical diagnostics. With ease of synthesis and excellent photophysical properties, D-A type fluorophores are widely designed for fluorescence imaging. However, traditional D-A type fluorophores are solvatochromic which reduces the fluorescence brightness in the biological system. To solve this problem and build on our previous work, we devised a novel HIEE fluorophore MTC with typical anti-solvatochromic fluorescence. Furthermore, the activated fluorescent probe designed based on MTC showed excellent imaging performance. We believe that the strategy based on the fluorophores with typical anti-solvatohromic fluorescence can be a useful platform for designing fluorescent probes for high-brightness imaging in the biological system.

Keywords: D–A fluorophore; Fluorescent probe; HOCl detecting; Hydrogen bond-induced enhanced emission; Subcellular imaging.

MeSH terms

  • Fluorescent Dyes*
  • Hydrogen Bonding
  • Optical Imaging*

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes