A Silyl Ether Based Fluorescent Probe for Rapid Monitoring of Endogenous Peroxynitrite Concentration and Imaging in Living Cells through Multicolor Emission

Abstract

The peroxynitrite ion (ONOO−) has important roles in many biological processes. We have developed a multicolor ONOO−‐sensing probe (SiONNOH) that undergoes deprotonation and desilylation processes, which result in several changes in the emission wavelengths. In response to different concentrations of ONOO−, the probe exhibits fluorescence changes from pink (595 nm at 2 eq. ONOO−) to green (540 nm at 6 eq. ONOO−) via orange (3 eq. ONOO−) and yellow (4 eq. ONOO−) under physiological conditions until no fluorescence signal is observed after ONOO− is completely eliminated by lipoic acid. The probe shows the high selectivity for ONOO− and the limit of detection is calculated to be 1.27 μM. Moreover, the probe shows the capacity to monitor the concentration ranges of ONOO− through multicolor fluorescence in living cells, which will greatly facilitate the rapid detection of ONOO− concentration ranges by the naked eye under a UV light without any precision instrumentation.