The application of natural drug-curcumin in the detection hypochlorous acid of real sample and its bioimaging

• The probe is commercially available with excellent biocompatibility.
• The probe showed a high sensitivity for hypochlorous acid as very low detection limit 0.065 μM.
• The probe is a fluorescence probe thus can be applied both in bioimaging and industrial inspection.

The detection property of natural drug-curcumin (1) was firstly reported by us. Experimental details showed 1 acts as an excellent UV–vis and fluorescent selectivity, sensitivity probe for the detection of hypochlorous acid, while other reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) induced no changes in UV–vis spectra and fluorescence quench properties of 1. A possible detection mechanism is that HOCl oxidized phenol of 1 into quinone resulting in a non-fluorescent curcumin derivative. Furthermore, the ability of probe to detect ClO− in living cells was also evaluated (HepG2 cells) via a cancelation of the fluorescence. Moreover, the application of 1 in quantitative analysis of hypochlorite in 84 disinfectant was also illustrated.