A near-infrared fluorescent probe for rapid, colorimetric and ratiometric detection of bisulfite in food, serum, and living cells

A new near-infrared fluorescent probe was developed for rapid, colorimetric and ratiometric fluorescent detection of bisulfite and sulfite anions. This probe is based on a conjugated coumarinindolium system, which was found to show rapid response, high selectivity and sensitivity for bisulfite/sulfite anions with significant dual colorimetric and ratiometric fluorescent signal changes in aqueous solution under mild conditions. The detection limit of this probe for bisulfite was found to be as low as 27 nM. The applications of this probe for bisulfite detection in real food samples and serum samples, and bioimaging of bisulfite in living cells were all successfully investigated. Besides, a simple dipstick-based test system was also developed with this probe for rapid detection of bisulfite. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.