A high-resolution mitochondria-targeting ratiometric fluorescent probe for detection of the endogenous hypochlorous acid

Hypochlorite anion, one of the biologically important reactive oxygen species, plays an essential role in diverse normal biochemical functions and abnormal pathological processes. Herein, an efficient high-resolution mitochondria-targeting ratiometric fluorescent probe for hypochlorous acid detection has been designed, synthesized and characterized. It is easily synthesized by the condensation reaction (C=C) of a 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl) quinazolin-4(3H)-one fluorophore and a cyanine group (mitochondria-targeting), which made the whole molecular a large Stokes shift (210 nm) and the two well-resolved emission peaks separated by 140 nm. As a result, it is considered as a good candidate for high resolution hypochlorous acid imaging in live cells. The ratiometric fluorescent probe exhibited outstanding features of high sensitivity, high selectivity, rapid response time (within 50 s), and excellent mitochondria-targeting ability. Moreover, the probe can also be successfully applied to imaging endogenously hypochlorous acid in the mitochondria of living cells with low cytotoxicity, and high resolution.