A turn-on fluorescent probe for imaging of hydroxyl radicals in drug-induced liver injury.

Hydroxyl radical is the most oxidizing type of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which is closely related to body health. In this work, a novel turn-on fluorescent probe BIJ-H for OH with high sensitivity was reported. BIJ-H was synthesized by a three-step reaction, and the pure product was obtained by only washing with poor solvents. In a neat aqueous solution containing BIJ-H, after adding OH, the probe was oxidized to BIJ, which produced fluorescence emission at 625 nm under the excitation with 550 nm. This sensing behavior can be achieved under physiological pH conditions. The detection limit of BIJ-H for OH was as low as 0.1379 μM. Thanks to the good analytical properties of BIJ-H, the probe has been applied to fluorescence imaging of OH in HepG2 cells and in acute liver injury induced by acetaminophen. The probe BIJ-H is expected to be used in the qualitative and quantitative detection of OH in physiological or pathological processes.