A ratiometric fluorescent probe for rapid and specific detection of hypochlorite.

Hypochlorite (ClO ), as a kind of essential reactive oxygen species, plays a crucial role in vitro and in vivo. Here, a ratiometric fluorescent probe (TPAM) was designed and constructed for sensing ClO based on substituted triphenylamine and malononitrile, which exhibited obvious colour transfer from orange to colourless under daylight accompanied by noticeable fluorescence change from red to green in response to ClO . TPAM could effectively monitor ClO with the merits of fast response, excellent selectivity, high sensitivity and a low detection limit of 0.1014 μM. H NMR, mass spectra and theoretical calculations proved that ClO caused the oxidation of the carbon-carbon double bond in TPAM, resulting in compound 1 and marked changes in colour and fluorescence. In addition, TPAM was utilized for imaging ClO in living cells successfully with good photostability and biocompatibility.