Design of a fluorescent probe based on the Baeyer-Villigerreaction for the specific detection of peroxy acids and imaging in living cells

•A fluorescent probe for peroxy acids was developed based on the Baeyer-Villiger.•The probe was specific to peroxy acids over a host of reactive oxygen species.•The probe can detect peroxy acids in living MCF-47 cells.

The detection of peroxy acids is of crucial importance in both environmental and life sciences due to the wide applications of these species. However, present methods for peroxy acid analysis usually suffers from selectivity issues, with H2O2 representing a major interference. Herein, we have developed a fluorescent probe that was specific towards peroxy acids over a host of other reactive oxygen species. The probe was designed based on the unique chemical property of peroxy acids to initiate the Baeyer-Villiger reaction. The results show that the probe was non-fluorescent, but became strongly fluorescent when detecting peroxy acids. The results also showed that the probe could be used to detect peroxy acids in living MCF-47 cells.

Graphical abstractDownload high-res image (58KB)Download full-size image