Unimolecular chemo-fluoro-luminescent probe for simultaneous detection and imaging of peroxynitrite and hypochlorite in vitro and in vivo

Abstract Multicomponent analysis in vitro and in vivo is urgent to study the etiology and optimize therapeutic interventions but remains challenge for designing simple, sensitive and selective optical probes. Herein, by assembling frequently-used sensing moiety (C N isomerization) of fluorescent probe with the same luminophore (fluorescein), a simple unimolecular chemo-fluoro-luminescent probe (Probe-OH) for simultaneous detection of NaClO and ONOO- was designed. Interestingly, the presented probe can be used for direct distinguishing NaClO and ONOO- only by their CL kinetic curves. Moreover, with ultra-sensitive CL signal and real-time fluorescent signal, the dual-mode optical probe was successfully applied for in vitro and in vivo imaging of NaClO and ONOO-. The study not only provides a promising strategy to design simple, sensitive and selective probes for responding multiple targets in vitro and in vivo but also demonstrates the applied potential of CL kinetic curves for discrimination of multiplex analytes.