A NIR ratiometric probe for hydrazine “naked eye” detection and its imaging in living cell

- The ratiometric probe has the largest Stokes shift than the reported.
- The detection limit of the first ICT-based NIR probe for hydrazine was 7.71 nM.
- The probe exhibited high selectivity and sensitivity detection of in aqueous solution with a wide pH span (3.0-10.0).
- The significant changes in color could be used for naked-eye detection.
- The fluorescence imaging experiment demonstrated its value of practical application.

A novel near-infrared (NIR) ratiometric colorimetric ICT-based fluorescence probe for hydrazine has been synthesized and characterized. The probe DCM-LX selectively distinguished hydrazine with other analyses with a wide pH range. Once hydrazine is added to the solution of probe DCM-LX, the color of solution changed to orange from yellow immediately. It means probe can be used for “naked-eye” detection of hydrazine. DCM-LX exhibits high selectivity and excellent sensitivity towards hydrazine with detection limit as low as 7.71 nM. Furthermore, DCM-LX was successfully applied in living cellular imaging with low toxicity and hydrazine detection in H2O sample.