College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, 410114, PR China.
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, 410114, PR China.
Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2023 Dec 15;303:123233. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2023.123233. Epub 2023 Aug 4.
The broad occurrence of the hydrazine (NH) residues in aqueousenvironment is a potential threat to human health. Currently, the mainstream strategy for designing NH-specific probes is to functionalize a fluorophore with nucleophilic sites for the reductionreaction with NH. In this work, we designed and synthesized an excited-state intermolecular proton transfer (inter-ESPT) fluorescent dye(2-amino-4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-7,8-dihydro-5H-spiro[quinoline-6,2'-[1,3]dioxolane]-3-carbonitrilem, DQN) and used it as a probe to sense NH. DQN exhibits blue fluorescence in conventional solvents, which is assigned to its normal emission. In the presence of NH, the probe DQN can anchor the NH molecule via hydrogen binding, enabling DQN to undergo inter-ESPT process and light up its tautomeric fluorescence. From this basis, an inter-ESPT-based method for NH detection was established, offering high selectivity and sensitivity (11.5 nM). Furthermore, we demonstrated that the probe DQN can recognize the proteins in living cells, affording cell-imaging. This research provides a promising sensing strategy for monitoring NH in water environments and this inter-ESPT dye is a powerful tool for cell-imaging.
肼（NH）残留在水环境中广泛存在，对人类健康构成潜在威胁。目前，设计 NH 特异性探针的主流策略是在荧光团上修饰亲核位点，用于与 NH 的还原反应。在这项工作中，我们设计并合成了一种激发态分子内质子转移（inter-ESPT）荧光染料（2-氨基-4-（4-甲氧基苯基）-7,8-二氢-5H-螺[喹啉-6,2'-[1,3]二氧戊环]-3-甲脒，DQN），并将其用作探针来检测 NH。DQN 在常规溶剂中发出蓝色荧光，这归因于其正常发射。在 NH 存在下，探针 DQN 可以通过氢键锚定 NH 分子，使 DQN 经历 inter-ESPT 过程并点亮其互变异构荧光。在此基础上，建立了一种基于 inter-ESPT 的 NH 检测方法，具有高选择性和灵敏度（11.5 nM）。此外，我们证明了探针 DQN 可以识别活细胞中的蛋白质，从而实现细胞成像。这项研究为监测水环境中的 NH 提供了一种有前途的传感策略，这种 inter-ESPT 染料是细胞成像的有力工具。
