Systematic Screening of Trigger Moieties for Designing Formaldehyde Fluorescent Probes and Application in Live Cell Imaging
Yin Jiang,
Shumei Huang,
Minghui Liu,
Zejun Li,
Weimin Xiao,
Huatang Zhang,
Liu Yang,
Hongyan Sun
Affiliations
Yin Jiang
School of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Shumei Huang
School of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Minghui Liu
School of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Zejun Li
School of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Weimin Xiao
Shenzhen Academy of Metrology & Quality Inspection, Shenzhen 518110, China
Huatang Zhang
School of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Liu Yang
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
Hongyan Sun
Department of Chemistry and Center of Super-Diamond and Advanced Films (COSDAF), City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China
Formaldehyde (FA) is involved in multiple physiological regulatory processes and plays a crucial role in memory storage. Meanwhile, FA has a notorious reputation as a toxic compound, and it will cause a variety of diseases if its level is unbalanced in the human body. To date, there have been numerous fluorescent probes for FA imaging reported. Among them, the probes based on the 2−aza−Cope rearrangement have attracted the most attention, and their applications in cell imaging have been greatly expanded. Herein, we screened the various trigger moieties of FA fluorescent probes based on the mechanism of 2−aza−Cope rearrangement. FA−2, in which a fluorophore is connected to a 4−nitrobenzylamine group and an allyl group, demonstrated the highest sensitivity, selectivity, and reaction kinetics. Furthermore, FA−Lyso, derived from FA−2, has been successfully designed and applied to monitor exogenous and endogenous FA fluctuations in lysosomes of living cells.
