A squaraine-based red emission off–on chemosensor for biothiols and its application in living cells imaging

What is it about?

A new probe based on squaraine skeleton with 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonyl unit is reported as fluorescent probe for biothiol. It shows turn-on property with red emission towards biothiols in acetonitrile-PBS buffer (1:9, v/v) solution, and its properties of rapid response, high selectivity and high sensitivity make it a potential probe in real application. Moreover, the in vitro assays show that the probe can be used in ?uorescence imaging for the detection of intracellular biothiol levels.

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Why is it important?

In summary, in order to improve the solubility and shorten the response time for the long-wavelength emission biothiol probes, a novel ?uorescent turn-on red-emitting chemosensor has been successfully designed and synthesized by squaraine derivative with 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonyl group. Its optical properties towards cysteine and homocysteine can be achieved in acetonitrile-PBS (1:9, v/v) solution with an emission enhancement of 33 and 22-fold, respectively. Good linear relationships of fluores