Two rhodamine lactam modulated lysosome-targetable fluorescence probes for sensitively and selectively monitoring subcellular organelle pH change

• Two probes for sensitively and selectively monitoring weak acidic pH change.
• The pKa of the probes was highly suitable for staining lysosomes in tumor cells.
• The properties of those probes were changed by different conjugate system.
• These probes have negligible cytotoxicity and good sensitivity in vivo.

Be a powerful technique for convenient detection of pH change in living cells, especially at subcellular level, fluorescent probes has attracted more and more attention. In this work, we designed and synthesized three rhodamine lactam modulated fluorescent probes RS1, RS2 and RS3, which all respond sensitively toward weak acidity (pH range 4–6) via the photophysical property in buffer solution without interference from the other metal ions, and they also show ideal pKa values and excellent reversibility. Particularly, by changing the lone pair electrons distribution of lactam-N atom with different conjugations, RS2 and RS3 exhibit high quantum yield, negligible cytotoxicity and excellent permeability. They are suitable to stain selectively lysosomes of tumor cells and monitor its pH changes sensitively via optical molecular imaging. The above findings suggest that the probes we designed could act as ideal and easy method for investigating the pivotal role of H+ in lysosomes and are potential pH detectors in disease diagnosis through direct intracellular imaging.

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