Article pubs.acs.org/ac
Selective, Highly Sensitive Fluorescent Probe for the Detection of Sulfur Dioxide Derivatives in Aqueous and Biological Environments Wenqiang Chen,† Qian Fang,† Dalei Yang,† Hongyan Zhang,∥ Xiangzhi Song,*,†,‡ and James Foley§ †
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province 410083, P. R. China State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning Province 116024, P. R. China ∥ Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China § Rowland Institute at Harvard, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States ‡
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ABSTRACT: On the basis of a unique nucleophilic addition reaction, a novel water-soluble broadly emitting (500−700 nm) fluorescent Probe 1 was developed for the rapid detection of SO2 derivatives in aqueous media. The positively-charged benzopyrylium moiety in Probe 1 provides both excellent water solubility, making this probe applicable in 100% aqueous environments, and the ability to function as a fluorescence quencher of the coumarin moiety. Probe 1 generates a nearly instantaneous strong fluorescence signal in response to SO2 derivatives having an 8.3 nM detection limit for bisufite. The resulting Probe 1−sulfite adduct emits in the green/red spectral region (λmax = 585 nm) with a large Stokes shift (139 nm). The probe exhibits excellent selectivity toward SO2 derivatives over other potential interfering agents including reactive sulfurcontaining species. Importantly, we demonstrate that Probe 1 can be used for the real-time sensing and bioimaging of SO2 derivatives in living cells.
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metabolically generated from thiol-containing amino acids, such as cysteine and glutathione.4,5 While the underlying physiological properties of SO32−/HSO3− remain largely unknown, recently, studies have found that SO32−/HSO3− have an endothelium-dependent vasorelaxing effect at low concentrations (
