A novel isolongifolanone based fluorescent probe with super selectivity and sensitivity for hypochlorite and its application in bio-imaging.

In this study, a novel biocompatible fluorescent probe (DN) capable of detecting ClO- in physiological medium was rationally designed and synthesized from natural and renewable isolongifolanone. This probe underwent a highly specific and sensitive oxidation reaction with ClO- and liberated an isolongifolanone derivative (PA) emitting intensive blue fluorescence. In response to ClO-, the fluorescence emission of DN was obviously enhanced within a short time. The detection limit of DN toward ClO- was found to be as low as 5.86 × 10-9 M. IR, MS and DFT calculation were employed to further confirm the sensing mechanism. Moreover, the test strips coated with DN could easily recognize ClO- from other relevant species through the changes of fluorescence color under 365 nm UV lamp. More importantly, we also successfully demonstrated the potential application of DN for the detection of intracellular hypochloritein living cells.