Real-time detection of hypochlorite in tap water and biological samples by a colorimetric, ratiometric and near-infrared fluorescent turn-on probe.

In this paper, we report a highly selective and sensitive ratiometric NIR fluorescent probe that can be used for real-time detection of the biologically important hypochlorite with colorimetric and significant NIR fluorescent turn-on signal changes at NIR excitation wavelength. In addition, experiments showed that this probe can be applied to detect hypochlorite in tap water, serum samples, and living cells with low cytotoxicity.