A series of basicity-tunable ionic liquids with carboxylate and sulfonate anion were designed, prepared, and applied in NO capture. Both high absorption capacity and low desorption residue were achieved through tuning the basicity of the anion, leading to a superhigh working capacity of more than 6 mol per mol ionic liquid, which is superior to that of traditional absorbents. Through a combination of absorption experiments, quantum chemical calculations, and spectroscopic investigations, the results indicated that such a high absorption capacity was originated from multiple sites interaction between oxygen atoms of carboxylate or sulfonate anion and NO, while the reduced interaction induced by the decreased basicity of the O-site ionic liquid led to excellent desorption. We show that the highly efficient and reversible NO capture by these tunable ionic liquids provides a new strategy for improving gas capture and utilization, which is also important for some other fields such as material, biology, and medicine.

A novel anion-functionalized fluorescent ionic liquid was designed and prepared, which was capable of capturing sulphur dioxide with high capacity and could also be used as a good colorimetric and fluorescent SO sensor. Compared to conventional fluorescent sensors, this fluorescent ionic liquid did not undergo aggregation-caused quenching or aggregation-induced emission, and the fluorescence was quenched when exposed to SO, and the fluorescence would quench when exposed to SO. The experimental absorption, spectroscopic investigation, and quantum chemical calculations indicated that the quenching of the fluorescence originated from SO physical absorption, not chemical absorption. Furthermore, this fluorescent ionic liquid exhibited high selectivity, good quantification, and excellent reversibility for SO detection, and showed potential for an excellent liquid sensor.

Developing ionic liquid (IL) drugs broaden new horizons in pharmaceuticals. The tunable nature endows ILs with capacity to delivery active ingredients. However, the tunability is limited to screen ionic components, and none realizes the kinetic tuning of drug release, which is a key challenge in the design of IL drugs. Here, a series of ILs are developed using biocompatible ionic components, which realizes absorption of gaseous NO to yield IL-NONOates. These IL-NONOates serve as HNO donors to release active ingredient. The release kinetics can be tuned through configuring the geometric construction of ILs (release half-lives, 4.2 to 1061 min). Mechanism research indicates that the tunability depends on the strength of intramolecular hydrogen bond. Furthermore, the IL-based HNO donors exert pharmacological potential to inhibit tumor progression by regulating intratumoral redox state. Coupled with biosafety, these IL-based HNO donors with facile preparation and tunable functionalization can be promising candidates for pharmaceutical application.

In this work, a simple dichlororesorufin-based colorimetric and fluorescent probe R-Hg with the recognition receptor of carbonothioate was designed, synthesized, and exploited to determine mercury ions in aqueous solution and living cells as well as in zebrafish. After a series of analytical tests, probe R-Hg showed some excellent characteristics, such as ultrasensitivity, high selectivity, and good water solubility. The probe solution exhibited a very large fluorescence enhancement (about 150-fold) upon addition of Hg 2+ . Additionally, probe R-Hg exhibited excellent sensitivity, which could quantificationally detect Hg 2+ at the nanomolar level, and the detection limit was 0.49 nM. Moreover, probe R-Hg could be used as a "naked-eye" probe for monitoring Hg 2+ , because the color of its solution transformed remarkably from yellow into pink with the participation of Hg 2+ . Importantly, probe R-Hg has potential application value and has been successfully applied to the determination of Hg 2+ in practical water samples and in living RAW 264.7 cells as well as in zebrafish as a bioimaging reagent.

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A simple highly specific and sensitive ratiometric fluorescent probe has been constructed to monitor carbon monoxide levels in living cells.

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