Oxidized-morpholine dressing ratiometric fluorescent probe for specifically visualizing the intracellular glutathione

•A ratiometric fluorescent probe Np-NSO2-NO was constructed and synthesized.•Np-NSO2-NO exhibited high selectivity towards glutathione.•Np-NSO2-NO was capable to visualize the intracellular glutathione with low cytotoxicity.

A naphthalimide-based ratiometric fluorescent probe for determining glutathione (GSH) was constructed by installing two oxidized morpholine (e.g. thiomorpholine-S-dioxide and morpholine-N-oxide) components on the “off-to-on” GSH probe. This probe displayed high selectivity towards GSH. As well, the bioimaging application confirmed that this probe was capable of acting as an indicator to monitor the intracellular GSH. Thus, this work provides a promising strategy to construct the ratiometric fluorescent probe.

Graphical abstractA ratiometric fluorescent probe was designed from a turn-on probe by a simple oxidative strategy, which could be capable of specifically responding intracellular glutathione.Download high-res image (210KB)Download full-size image