Issue 45, 2021

A phase-transfer catalyst-based nanoreactor for accelerated hydrogen sulfide bio-imaging

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an important signaling molecule in various biological processes; however, its real-time monitoring in living cells is hampered by long detection time for current fluorescent probes. To overcome this challenge, we designed a phase-transfer catalyst (PTC) approach to accelerate the reaction between the probe and the analyte by conjugating common fluorescent probes – mostly hydrophobic small molecules – with an amphiphilic PEG–PPG–PEG polymer, enabling the controllable assembly of H2S nanoprobes in an aqueous solution. The PEG block helps to establish a PTC microenvironment that endows the assembled nanoprobes with a significantly reduced detection time (3–10 min; versus 20–60 min for small-molecule probes). Based on this approach, we synthesised two nanoprobes of different wavelengths, DS-Blue-nano and DN-Green-nano, which can sensitively detect H2S in living macrophage cells with bright fluorescence starting at as early as 7 min and reaching stability at 15 min. These data suggest PTC-based nanoprobes as a new and generic approach for constructing sensitive fluorescent probes for the real-time imaging of H2S, and perhaps other molecules in future, under biological conditions.

Graphical abstract: A phase-transfer catalyst-based nanoreactor for accelerated hydrogen sulfide bio-imaging

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Jul 2021
Accepted
25 Okt 2021
First published
25 Okt 2021

Nanoscale, 2021,13, 19049-19055

A phase-transfer catalyst-based nanoreactor for accelerated hydrogen sulfide bio-imaging

P. Xing, Y. Niu, J. Li, D. Xie, H. Zhou, J. Chen, L. Dong and C. Wang, Nanoscale, 2021, 13, 19049 DOI: 10.1039/D1NR04931C

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