title: Development of a functional ruthenium(II) complex for probing hypochlorous acid in living cells.
abstract: A functional ruthenium(ii) complex, [Ru(bpy)2(AN-bpy)](PF6)2 (bpy: 2,2'-bipyridine, AN-bpy: 4-methyl-4'-(4-amino-3-nitro-phenoxy-methylene)-2,2'-bipyridine), has been designed and synthesized as a turn-on luminescent probe for the imaging of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in living cells. Due to the intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer (PET), the ruthenium(ii) complex itself is almost non-luminescent. However, it can specifically and rapidly react with HOCl in aqueous media to afford a highly luminescent derivative, [Ru(bpy)2(HM-bpy)](PF6)2 (HM-bpy: 4-hydroxymethyl-4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridine), accompanied by a 110-fold luminescence enhancement. Taking advantage of high specificity and sensitivity, and excellent photophysical properties of the ruthenium(ii) complex probe, [Ru(bpy)2(AN-bpy)](PF6)2 was successfully applied to the luminescence imaging of the exogenous HOCl in living HeLa cells and the endogenous HOCl in porcine neutrophils. The results corroborate that indeed [Ru(bpy)2(AN-bpy)](PF6)2 is a useful luminescent probe for the monitoring of HOCl in biological systems.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China. jingliyuan@aliyun.com.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Run
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Zhichao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Dayong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Ewa M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Goldys
authors.forename: Jingli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yuan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D056831:Coordination Complexes / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D006997:Hypochlorous Acid / Q000032:analysis*; D049408:Luminescent Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000737:chemistry; D012428:Ruthenium / Q000737:chemistry*; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D056831:Coordination Complexes; D049408:Luminescent Agents; D006997:Hypochlorous Acid; D012428:Ruthenium