An endoplasmic reticulum-targeted fluorescent probe for ratiometric tracking of endogenous SO2 derivatives

Abstract

A novel fluorescent probe (JSS-1) for endogenous SO₂ derivatives was developed by using 1,8-naphthalimide and malononitrile dyes on the basis of FRET and the ICT mechanism. JSS-1 possessed excellent photo-stability, deep-red emission signal, large Stokes shift and broad emission window gap. Additionally, it displayed various superiorities in sensing SO₂ derivatives, including low sensing limit, high sensitivity and selectivity. Significantly, JSS-1 was successfully employed to track endogenous SO₂ derivatives in the endoplasmic reticulum with a high co-localization coefficient of 0.93, and could even be used for the recognition of liver cancer cells.