Real-Time Monitoring of Endogenous Cysteine Levels In Vivo by near-Infrared Turn-on Fluorescent Probe with Large Stokes Shift

Cysteine (Cys), as an important biothiol, plays a major role in many physiological processes like protein synthesis, detoxification and metabolism, and also is closely associated with a variety of diseases; thus the design of novel highly selective and sensitive near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes for Cys detection in vivo is of great significance. Herein, we report a selective and sensitive NIR turn-on fluorescent probe (CP-NIR) with large Stokes shift for detecting Cys in vivo. Upon addition of Cys to the solution of the probe, it is absorption wavelength shifts from 550 to 600 nm, accompanying with an obvious enhancement of NIR fluorescence emission centering around 760 nm. This Michael-addition reaction based probe shows a large Stokes shift (160 nm), low detection limit (48 nM), fast response time, and low toxicity. Moreover, this novel NIR probe with good cell permeability was successfully applied to monitoring endogenous Cys in living cells and in a mouse model.