A near-infrared xanthene-based fluorescent probe for selective detection of hydrazine and its application in living cells.

Developing fluorescent probes for selective determination of the toxic and carcinogenic hydrazine are pretty significant. Herein, a rhodamine dye coupled to naphthalene was selected as a near-infrared fluorophore and acetyl group as a trigger unit for hydrazine sensing with a Stokes shifts of 62 nm. The probe showed about 77-fold NIR fluorescence enhancement in the presence of hydrazine. In addition, the detection limit was as low as 3.4 ppb, and the fluorescence intensity at 654 nm showed a satisfactory linearity with the concentration range of hydrazine from 0 to 120 μM. More importantly, the practical utility of probe has been successfully proved through the fluorescence bioimaging of hydrazine in living cells with low cytotoxicity and quantitative N2H4 detection in environmental water samples.