title: A water-soluble fluorescent pH probe based on perylene dyes and its application to cell imaging.
abstract: A fluorescent pH probe, N,N'-bi( l-phenylalanine amine)-perylene-3,4;9,10-dicarboxylic diimide (PDCDA) was synthesized and used for pH sensing in living cells. A significant fluorescence intensity change was observed over a pH range from 7.0 to 4.0. Electrostatic potential maps (MEP) suggested that the electronic repulsion between PDCDAs was increased by the high negative electrostatic potential which resulted in a high water solubility of PDCDA. PDCDA was successfully applied as a high-performance fluorochrome for living HeLa cell imaging. The results demonstrate that the probe PDCDA is a good candidate for monitoring pH fluctuations in living cells with good water solubility, low cytotoxicity, high fluorescence quantum yield and photostability.
authors.affiliation: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, 250101, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yongshan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Metrology and Measurement, Shandong Institute of Metrology, Shandong Social Justice Institute of Metrology, Jinan, 250014, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fengxia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, 250101, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jinfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, 250101, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tianyi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, 250101, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xuemei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, 250101, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Junsen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, 250101, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Huixue
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010569:Perylene / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D012995:Solubility; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D014867:Water; D010569:Perylene
keywords: fluorescence; living cell staining; pH probe; water-soluble perylene derivative