A near-infrared turn-on fluorescent probe for the rapid detection of selenocysteine and its application of imaging in living cells and mice

Abstract Selenocysteine (Sec) plays critical roles in many physiological and pathological processes of human beings, thus it is of great significance to develop accurate methods for detecting and visualizing Sec. Herein, a new anthracene derivative (YZ-M5) as a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe for sensing Sec was designed. Based on the target-induced modulation of the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) process of the probe, YZ-M5 can display a rapid strong NIR fluorescence enhancement at 660 nm for Sec within 5 min. The quantitative detection range for Sec is 0–40 μM with a low detection limit of 18.5 nM. YZ-M5 also showed high selectivity and sensitivity, as well as the capability for identification of Sec in living cells and mice.