Issue 17, 2019

Development of fast-response turn-on phosphorescent probes for biothiols based on ruthenium(ii) complexes

Abstract

A novel ruthenium(II) complex of [Ru(bpy)2(BIPP-DNBS)](ClO4)2 (Ru-BIPP-DNBS) {bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine, BIPP-DNBS = 4-bromo-2-(1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthrolin-2-yl)phenyl 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonate} has been designed and synthesized as a fast-response turn-on phosphorescent probe for the detection of biothiols. The ruthenium(II) polypyridine complex was used as a phosphorescence reporter and 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonate (DNBS) was used as both a recognition unit and phosphorescence quencher. Ru-BIPP-DNBS was weakly phosphorescent owing to the effectual photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from the ruthenium(II) luminophore to the sensing group DNBS. Upon treatment with biothiols, the 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonyl group of Ru-BIPP-DNBS was cleaved, and the phosphorescence was “turned on”, as a result of the formation of Ru-BIPP. The favorable steric interactions between the 1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline group and ortho-2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonate highly ameliorated the response rate of Ru-BIPP-DNBS toward biothiols, resulting in a rapid thiol-induced SNAr substitution reaction. This probe also exhibited good linearity ranges with detection limits of 0.47 μM for cysteine and 0.27 μM for glutathione. Furthermore, application of Ru-BIPP-DNBS for the imaging of endogenous biothiols in glioma cell samples was successfully demonstrated.

Graphical abstract: Development of fast-response turn-on phosphorescent probes for biothiols based on ruthenium(ii) complexes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Feb 2019
Accepted
01 Apr 2019
First published
01 Apr 2019

Anal. Methods, 2019,11, 2341-2350

Development of fast-response turn-on phosphorescent probes for biothiols based on ruthenium(II) complexes

Z. Zheng, J. Cui, Y. Han, Y. Ge, J. Zuo and W. Hao, Anal. Methods, 2019, 11, 2341 DOI: 10.1039/C9AY00356H

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