Development of a novel fluorescent probe for highly sensitive detection and visualization of HClO in environmental and biological systems

Abstract

A novel coumarin-based fluorescent probe was designed and synthesized for highly sensitive detection of HClO. It ingeniously integrates coumarin as the fluorophore and formamide as a HClO-specific responsive site. When exposed to HClO, it exhibited a significant fluorescence decrease response characterized by a rapid response time (within 2 min), a high sensitivity (4.96 nM), and excellent selectivity and anti-interference performance. It successfully imaged exogenous and endogenous HClO in living cells and zebrafish. In addition, it has also demonstrated its practicality and accuracy in actual water sample testing. All the experimental results confirm that this probe has a very broad application prospect.