A novel colorimetric and ratiometric fluorescent probe for sensing SO2 derivatives and their bio-imaging in living cells

Abstract

We report a novel fluorescent probe HBN–TCF for the detection of SO₂ derivatives. This probe exhibited near-infrared fluorescence emission with an excitation wavelength of 620 nm. After reacting with SO₃²⁻, the emission channel at 664 nm decreased, while the new strong emission channel at 482 nm increased (λ_ex = 400 nm), with a large emission distance (Δλ = 182 nm) observed. This probe exhibited the rapid and selective detection of SO₂ derivatives compared with other sulfur-containing species and featured a low detection limit (82 nM). This colorimetric and ratiometric fluorescent probe showed high selectivity and sensitivity for detecting SO₂ derivatives. The probe was also successfully exploited for the fluorescence imaging of intracellular and exogenous SO₂ derivatives in BEL-7402 cells.