A two-photon fluorescent turn-on probe for imaging of SO2 derivatives in living cells and tissues

•A FRET-based two-photon fluorescent probe for detecting SO2 derivatives was proposed.•The probe shows high sensitivity, excellent selectivity, rapid response as well as low cytotoxicity.•The probe was capable of detecting SO2 derivatives up to 170 μm depth in tissues.

SO2 and its derivatives (bisulfite/sulfite) play crucial roles in several physiological processes. Therefore, development of reliable analytical methods for monitoring SO2 and its derivatives in biological systems is very significant. In this paper, a FRET-based two-photon fluorescent turn-on probe, A-HCy, was proposed for specific detection of SO2 derivatives through the bisulfite/sulfite-promoted Michael addition reaction. In this FRET system, an acedan (2-acetyl-6-dialkylaminonaphthalene) moiety was selected as a two-photon donor and a hemicyanine derivative served as both the quencher and the recognition unit for bisulfite/sulfite. A-HCy exhibited excellent selectivity and rapid response to HSO3− with a detection limit of 0.24 μM. More importantly, probe A-HCy was first successfully applied in two-photon fluorescence imaging of biological SO2 derivatives in living cells and tissues, suggesting its great potential for practical application in biological systems.

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