A NIR fluorescent sensor with large Stokes shift for the real-time visualization of endogenous hydrogen peroxide in living cells

摘要

Hydrogen peroxide (11202), regarded as the byproduct of aerobic metabolism via the electron transport chain, plays a significant role in a vast array of physiological and pathological process in the organisms. Therefore, it is of great importance to develop efficient analytical approach for monitoring the H2O2 level in living systems. Herein, in this work, a NIR fluorescent probe named NDCM-HP was developed for the highly selective detection of H2O2 by introducing boronate group as the recognition unit into the 2-(3-(4-hydroxystyryl)-5,5-dimethylcyclohex-2-enylidene) malononitrile (NDCM-OH) fluorophore which is featured by strong NIR emission, large Stokes shift, and good photostability. As a matter of fact, NDCM-HP demonstrated excellent sensing performance toward H2O2 in solution samples such as high sensitivity with about 127-fold emission enhancement, low detection limit of 70.189 nM, and good selectivity over biologically related species. Furthermore, it could be employed for detecting endogenous H2O2 fluctuation in living cells induced by different stimulators such as Phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), N-Acetylcysteine (NAC), indicating its great potential in biological application.