A highly selective and sensitive ICT-based Cu2+ fluorescent probe and its application in bioimaging

Xina Liu; Taozhong Shi; Chenyang Xu; Meiqing Zhu; Yi Wang

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.115127

A highly selective and sensitive ICT-based Cu²⁺ fluorescent probe and its application in bioimaging

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2023 Jun 13:262:115127. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.115127. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xina Liu¹, Taozhong Shi¹, Chenyang Xu¹, Meiqing Zhu², Yi Wang³

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Agri-Food Safety of Anhui Province, School of Resources and Environment, Anhui Agricultural University, No. 130 Changjiang West Road, Hefei 230036, China.
² School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu, Anhui 241000, China. Electronic address: meiqingzhu@ahpu.edu.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Agri-Food Safety of Anhui Province, School of Resources and Environment, Anhui Agricultural University, No. 130 Changjiang West Road, Hefei 230036, China. Electronic address: wangyi1987@cau.edu.cn.

PMID: 37320915
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.115127

Abstract

Cu²⁺ is an essential trace element for the organism, but its excess can also cause irreversible damage to the organism. As such, a "Turn-Off" fluorescent probe DPAP for the specific detection of Cu²⁺ was successfully constructed. DPAP exhibits large Stokes shift (120 nm), fast reaction speed (1 min), low detection limit (15.2 nM), low toxicity, and good cell permeability. Cu²⁺ quenches the fluorescence of DPAP by blocking its intramolecular charge transfer process to achieve the detection of Cu²⁺ and has been confirmed by HRMS, ¹H NMR and DFT calculations. Excitingly, the five-cycle detection of Cu²⁺ and the successful recovery of trace Cu²⁺ in environmental water samples fully demonstrate the potential of DPAP for practical applications. In particular, DPAP can observe the distribution and translocation patterns of exogenous Cu²⁺ in HeLa cells and zebrafish in real-time. This research concept has offered important theoretical support for the study of the environmental behavior of heavy metal ions.

Keywords: Cu(2+); Density functional theory; Fluorescent probe; Imaging; Reversible.