College of Materials Science & Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials & Devices, South China University of Technology , Guangzhou 510640, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016 Jan 20;8(2):1511-9. doi: 10.1021/acsami.5b11023. Epub 2016 Jan 5.
Fluorescent sensors are attractive and versatile tools for both chemical sensing and biological imaging. Herein, a novel pyrene derivative fluorophore, Py-Cy, possessing the monomer/excimer conversion feature, was synthesized; and the design rationale for this fluorophore is combination of extending conjugation length and incorporating donor-π-acceptor structure. The positively charged Py-Cy shows quite good water solubility and exhibits absorption in the visible-light range, and its monomer and excimer emit red light and near-infrared light respectively, which is extremely beneficial for biosensing or bioimaging. To explore the potential utilization of this new fluorophore, we choose hypochlorite as a model analyte, which can break the double bond in the molecular structure, thereby generating the water-insoluble pyrenecarboxaldehyde; this process correspondingly leads to fluorescence changes and thus affords the ratiometric fluorescent detection of hypochlorite in real samples and cell imaging. The approach offers new insights for designing other fluorophores which emit red or near-infrared light and for devising technically simple ratiometric fluorescent sensors.
荧光传感器是化学传感和生物成像的一种有吸引力和多功能的工具。在此，合成了一种具有单体/激基复合物转化特征的新型芘衍生物荧光团 Py-Cy；该荧光团的设计原理是延长共轭长度并结合供体-π-受体结构。带正电荷的 Py-Cy 具有相当好的水溶性，并在可见光范围内有吸收，其单体和激基复合物分别发射红光和近红外光，这对生物传感或生物成像非常有利。为了探索这种新荧光团的潜在应用，我们选择次氯酸盐作为模型分析物，它可以破坏分子结构中的双键，从而生成不溶于水的芘甲醛；这一过程相应地导致荧光变化，从而实现实际样品和细胞成像中的次氯酸盐的比率荧光检测。该方法为设计发射红光或近红外光的其他荧光团以及设计技术简单的比率荧光传感器提供了新的思路。
