A highly selective fluorescent probe for thiol bioimaging

A new fluorescent turn-on probe (3) for the selective sensing and bioimaging of thiols is reported. In aqueous buffer solutions at physiological pH, thiols cleave the 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonyl group to release the red-emissive donor-acceptor fluorophore (4). The probe displays excellent immunity to interference from nitrogen and oxygen nucleophiles and the imaging of thiols in living cells is demonstrated.