A dual-responsive fluorescent probe based on cyanine and naphthalimide units for detecting HClO and HS in living cells.

Hypochlorous acid (HClO) and hydrogen sulfide (HS) play very important roles in both physiological and pathological processes, however, the methods for simultaneously detecting HClO and HS were rarely reported. Here, a dual-responsive fluorescent probe (CyNa-N) based on cyanine and naphthalimide dyes was synthesized and investigated. The fluorescence probe showed better sensitivity, high selectivity response to HClO and HS by red emission and green emission bands, and the limits of detection were 0.17 µM and 0.15 µM respectively. MS (Mass Spectrum) and H NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) confirmed the sensing mechanism of CyNa-N detected HClO and HS, the calculation of density functional theory (DFT) further explained the internal mechanism of spectral change of CyNa-N. Moreover, CyNa-N was successfully applied to image HClO and HS in living cells, which is beneficial for more efficient application in biological imaging.