title: Rapid and ratiometric fluorescent detection of cysteine with high selectivity and sensitivity by a simple and readily available probe.
abstract: We report a simple and readily available fluorescent probe for rapid, specific, and ratiometric fluorescent detection of the biologically important cysteine (Cys). This probe uses a visible-light excitable excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) dye (4'-dimethylamino-3-hydroxyflavone) as the fluorophore and an acrylate group as the ESIPT blocking agent as well as the recognition unit. Cleavage of the acrylate moiety can be achieved specifically and rapidly by Cys in aqueous solution under mild conditions, which leads to restore the ESIPT process and enables the probe to show a rapid, ratiometric fluorescent detection process for Cys with high selectivity over various analytes, including homocysteine (Hcy) and glutathione (GSH). The detection limit of this probe for Cys was found to be ∼0.2 μM and bioimaging of intracellular Cys by this probe was successfully applied in living cells, indicating that this probe holds great potential for biological applications.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pesticide and Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University , 152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Dehuan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Shuangshuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Guoqiang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D003545:Cysteine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D005978:Glutathione / Q000737:chemistry; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D015336:Molecular Probe Techniques; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006710:Homocysteine; D005978:Glutathione; D003545:Cysteine
keywords: ESIPT; bioimaging; cysteine; fluorescent probe; ratiometric; selectivity