Intracellular and in vivo oxygen sensing using phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes.

Molecular oxygen plays an indispensable role as a terminal electron acceptor in the electron transport chain in mitochondria. Acute or chronic oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) in organisms results in various diseases, and the elucidation of the pathogenic mechanism of hypoxia-related diseases and various cellular responses to hypoxia is an urgent issue. Optical oxygen imaging methods using phosphorescent probes have opened up techniques for noninvasive imaging of the intracellular and tissue oxygen status, and oxygen-sensitive probes play a key role in the development of this approach. We expect that phosphorescent Ir(III) complexes can serve as new oxygen-sensing probes for intracellular and intravascular oxygen imaging in vivo.