An Efficient Fluorescent Probe for Ratiometric pH Measurements in Aqueous Solutions

摘要

The development of new powerful microscopy approaches,as well as the availability of various synthetic and natural fluorescent molecules,has made fluorescence microscopy an essential tool for cellular biology.Fluorescent labels that specifically target molecules or organelles are currently used to investigate the structures and functions of cells.In particular,fluorescent probes have been developed to locally measure the concentrations of important metabolites,such as ions that are involved in signaling and energy transduction.Despite their significance in many essential biological processes,protons have not been studied as much as other ions (e.g.Ca~(2+)) by fluorescence microscopy;a possible explanation for this is the absence of entirely satisfactory fluorescent indicators to measure pH in the relevant range (4.5-7.4).