A simple naphthalene-based fluorescent probe for high selective detection of formaldehyde in toffees and HeLa cells via aza-Cope reaction.

A simple naphthalene-based fluorescent probe (AENO) for formaldehyde (FA) was successfully synthesized, which exhibited a significant fluorescence turn-on response towards FA in aqueous solution. The probe could quantitatively determine the concentration of FA (0-1.0mM) with excellent selectivity, high sensitivity and low limit of detection (0.57µM). The sensing mechanism was proposed as 2-aza-Cope rearrangement for AENO after reaction with FA, which was confirmed by (1)H NMR, HR-MS, FT-IR, UV-vis and fluorescence spectra. The probe has been employed to determine the FA contents in several commercially available toffee samples with satisfactory performance. Thus, AENO might be used as a promising tool for quantitative detection of FA in food. Furthermore, fluorescence imaging of HeLa cells indicated that the probe was cell membrane permeable and could be used for visualizing/imaging the FA trace/transportation in cancer cells.