A turn-on fluorescent probe for hypochlorous acid based on the oxidation of diphenyl telluride.

A fluorescent probe HCTe was developed for rapid detection of hypochlorous acid based on the specific HOCl-promoted oxidation of diphenyl telluride. The reaction is accompanied by an 82-fold increase in the fluorescence quantum yield (from 0.009 to 0.75). The fluorescence turn-on mechanism is achieved by the suppression of photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from the diphenyl telluride group to BODIPY. The fluorescence intensity of the reaction between HOCl and HCTe is linear in the HOCl concentration range of 1 to 10 μM with a detection limit of 41.3 nM (S/N = 3). In addition, confocal fluorescence microscopy imaging using RAW264.7 macrophages demonstrated that HCTe could be an efficient fluorescent probe for HOCl detection in living cells.