Detecting intracellular ClO- with ratiometric fluorescent signal and its application in vivo

BODIPY and coumarin were assembled into a single scaffold that was cleaved upon oxidation by ClO-, thereby enabling ratiometric fluorescent detection CIO-. The ratiometric fluorescence response was distinctive (I-510/I-660 = 18.3) in the presence of CIO-. It was accompanied by an obvious solution color change from dark-blue to colorless. The probe is highly selective and sensitive towards CIO-, with a rapidly response time. Moreover, imaging experiments in live HeLa cells showed that the probe could readily penetrate the cell membrane and was amenable to real-time imaging of ex/endogenous CIO-. Importanty, the probe was successfully used to detect CIO- in vivo via imaging an arthritis nude mouse model.