A benzothiazole-based near-infrared fluorescent probe for sensing SO derivatives and viscosity in HeLa cells.

The unbalanced metabolism of sulfur dioxide can cause various diseases, such as neurological disorders and lung cancer. Until now, some researches revealed that the normal function of lysosomes would be disrupted by its abnormal viscosity. As a signal molecule, sulfur dioxide (SO) plays an important role in lysosome metabolism. However, the connection of metabolism between the SO and viscosity in lysosomes is still unknown. Herein, we developed a benzothiazole-based near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe (Triph-SZ), which can monitor the SO derivatives and respond to the change of viscosity in lysosomes through two-photon imaging. Triph-SZ present high sensitivity and selectivity fluorescence response with the addition of SO derivatives based on the nucleophilic addition, and it also exhibits a sensitive fluorescence enhancement to environmental viscosity, which allows Triph-SZ to be employed to monitor the level of HSO and viscosity changes in lysosomes by the two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy.