Key Laboratory for Green Organic Synthesis and Application of Hunan Province, Key Laboratory of Environmentally Friendly Chemistry and Applications of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, P. R. China.
Henan Key Laboratory of Organic Functional Molecule and Drug Innovation, Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Province for Green Manufacturing of Fine Chemicals, Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Media and Reactions, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, P. R. China.
Anal Chem. 2023 Dec 5;95(48):17559-17567. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c02872. Epub 2023 Nov 23.
Cysteine is an important biological thiol and is closely related to cancer. It remains a challenge to develop a probe that can provide long-term fluorescence detection and imaging of Cys in cells as well as in living organisms. Here, a solid-state fluorophore is combined with an acrylate group to construct a solid-state fluorescent probe for Cys recognition. The fluorescence of the probe is quenched when the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) process is turned on and the excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process is turned off. In the presence of Cys, an obvious solid-state fluorescence signal can be observed. The double quenching mechanism makes the probe have the advantages of high sensitivity, good selectivity, and high contrast of biological imaging. Due to low cytotoxicity, the probe can be used to detect exogenous and endogenous Cys in living cells and is capable of imaging over long periods of time. By making full use of long wavelengths, the probe can be applied for the detection of Cys levels in tumor mice and equipped with the ability to conduct long-term imaging in vivo.
半胱氨酸是一种重要的生物硫醇，与癌症密切相关。开发一种探针，能够对细胞以及活体生物中的 Cys 进行长期荧光检测和成像，仍然是一个挑战。在这里，将固态荧光团与丙烯酰胺基团结合，构建了用于 Cys 识别的固态荧光探针 。当光诱导电子转移（PET）过程开启且激发态分子内质子转移（ESIPT）过程关闭时，探针的荧光被猝灭。在 Cys 的存在下，可以观察到明显的固态荧光信号。双猝灭机制使探针 具有高灵敏度、良好选择性和生物成像对比度高的优点。由于低细胞毒性，探针 可用于检测活细胞中外源和内源性 Cys，并且能够长时间成像。通过充分利用长波长，该探针可用于检测肿瘤小鼠中的 Cys 水平，并具备进行体内长期成像的能力。
