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 Лип 2021
Accepted
25 Жов 2021
First published
25 Жов 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

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements