A benzothiazole-based fluorescent probe for hypochlorous acid detection and imaging in living cells

Abstract

A benzothiazole-based turn-on fluorescent probe with a large Stokes shift (190nm) has been developed for hypochlorous acid detection. The probe displays prompt fluorescence response for HClO with excellent selectivity over other reactive oxygen species as well as a low detection limit of 0.08μM. The sensing mechanism involves the HClO-induced specific oxidation of oxime moiety of the probe to nitrile oxide, which was confirmed by HPLC-MS technique. Furthermore, imaging studies demonstrated that the probe is cell permeable and can be applied to detect HClO in living cells.