A highly specific and ultrasensitive p-aminophenylether-based fluorescent probe for imaging native HOCl in live cells and zebrafish.

It is very important to detect native hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in the complex biosystems owing to the important roles of HOCl in the immune defense and the pathogenesis of numerous diseases. In this paper, a new p-aminophenylether-based fluorescent probe PAPE-HA was developed for specific detection of HOCl. Probe PAPE-HA could implement the quantitative detection of HOCl ranging from 0 to 1 μM and the detection limit was obtained as low as 1.37 nM. Additionally, probe PAPE-HA could reach a rapid response for HOCl (<2 min). Importantly, probe PAPE-HA with preeminent specificity and ultrasensitivity was proven to possess powerful capability of tracking native HOCl in live cells and zebrafish, and we thus anticipate that probe PAPE-HA could be used as a novel promising tool for revealing diverse cellular functions of HOCl.