A lysosome-target fluorescence turn-on probe for exogenous and endogenous HClO detection and its biological applications

A new fluorescence probe QW-Lyso conjugated by isophorone and 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde was synthesized and characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, HRMS and X-ray Crystallography. The probe demonstrated outstanding selectivity and high sensitivity to HClO with an obvious color change and fluorescence turn on response, and the limit of detection was calculated as 85 nM. Furthermore, the possibility mechanism was verified by ¹H NMR titration, HRMS, and DFT calcualtion. Moreover, QW-Lyso was successfully used to image both endogenous and exogenous HClO in living cells, zebrafish, and mice. Colocalization investigation demonstrated that probe QW-Lyso had good lysosomal-targeting and high-contrast imaging abilities, which provided a beneficial tool for the development of HClO fluorescent probe with more efficient application in biological imaging.