title: A fluorescent probe for the efficient discrimination of Cys, Hcy and GSH based on different cascade reactions.
abstract: A fluorescent probe (1) for distinguishing amongst biothiols, including cysteine (Cys), homocysteine (Hcy) and glutathione (GSH), is developed based on different cascade reactions. The key design feature of fluorescent probe 1 is the integration of two potential reaction groups for the thiol and amino groups of biothiols in one molecule. By reacting with the halogen atom and α, β-unsaturated malonitrile in probe 1, Cys, Hcy and GSH can generate a total of three main products with distinct photophysical properties. Probe 1 shows a strong fluorescence turn-on response to Cys with blue-green emission by using an excitation wavelength of 390nm. At an excitation wavelength of 500nm, probe 1 responds to GSH over Cys and Hcy and emits strong orange fluorescence. The discrimination of biothiols can be demonstrated by cell imaging experiments, indicating that probe 1 can be a useful tool for the selective imaging of Cys and GSH in living cells.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials and CityU-CAS Joint Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China; School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials and CityU-CAS Joint Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China; School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China. Electronic address: wmliu@mail.ipc.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Weimin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials and CityU-CAS Joint Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China.
authors.forename: Panpan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials and CityU-CAS Joint Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China.
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials and CityU-CAS Joint Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China.
authors.forename: Jiasheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials and CityU-CAS Joint Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China; School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.
authors.forename: Jiechao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials and CityU-CAS Joint Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China; School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D003374:Coumarins / Q000737:chemistry; D003545:Cysteine / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D005978:Glutathione / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D009570:Nitriles / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D003374:Coumarins; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D009570:Nitriles; D006710:Homocysteine; C000945:dicyanmethane; D005978:Glutathione; D003545:Cysteine
keywords: Biothiols; Cascade reactions; Cell imaging; Coumarin; Fluorescent probe