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The advancement of biological imaging techniques critically depends on the development of novel near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes. In this study, we introduce a designed NIR fluorescent probe, NRO-βgal, which exhibits a unique off-on response mechanism to β-galactosidase (β-gal). Emitting a fluorescence peak at a wavelength of 670 nm, NRO-βgal showcases a significant Stokes shift of 85 nm, which is indicative of its efficient energy transfer and minimized background interference. The probe achieves a remarkably low in vitro detection limit of 0.2 U/L and demonstrates a rapid response within 10 min, thereby underscoring its exceptional sensitivity, selectivity, and operational swiftness. Such superior analytical performance broadens the horizon for its application in intricate biological imaging studies. To validate the practical utility of NRO-βgal in bio-imaging, we employed ovarian cancer cell and mouse models, where the probe's efficacy in accurately delineating tumor cells was examined. The results affirm NRO-βgal's capability to provide sharp, high-contrast images of tumor regions, thereby significantly enhancing the precision of surgical tumor resection. Furthermore, the probe's potential for real-time monitoring of enzymatic activity in living tissues underscores its utility as a powerful tool for diagnostics in oncology and beyond., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Hydrazine (N 2 H 4 ) is a highly toxic and harmful chemical reagent. Fluorescent probes are simple and efficient tools for sensitive monitoring of N 2 H 4 enrichment in the environment, humans, animals, and plants. In this work, a ratiometric fluorescent probe (FP-1) containing coumarin was used for hydrazine detection. The proposed FP-1 probe had a linear detection range of 0-250 μM and a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.059 μM (1.89 ppb). A large red Stokes shift was observed in fluorescence and UV-vis absorption spectra due to the hydrolysis of ester bonds between FP-1 and hydrazine. The hydrazine detection mechanism of FP-1 was also investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Finally, FP-1 could sensitively and selectively monitor hydrazine in actual water samples and BEAS-2B cells. Therefore, it has great application potential in environmental monitoring and disease diagnosis., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) is a main member of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells that has a significant impact on various physiological and pathological processes of organisms. Here, we designed and synthesized a new type of fluorescent probe Rhodol-OAc for the specific detection of H 2 O 2 . The probe had good water solubility, high selectivity and sensitivity to H 2 O 2 , low cytotoxicity, excellent mitochondrial targeting ability, etc. It was successfully applied in the imaging of exogenous and endogenous H 2 O 2 in living cells. In addition, theoretical calculations were carried out to clarify the luminescence mechanism of the probe. More importantly, we successfully applied the probe to indirectly detect xanthine and glucose, the metabolism of which generates H 2 O 2 , and achieved satisfactory results.

In this work, a novel phenoxazine-based fluorescent probe BPO-N 3 was developed to detect H 2 S. The results showed that the probe had high selectivity and sensitivity toward H 2 S, and its detection mechanism was based the ratio between green and red fluorescence signals; its detection limit was as low as 30 nM. The fluorescent imaging experiments further showed that the probe BPO-N 3 could successfully detect endogenous and exogenous H 2 S in living cells. This probe can be used as a powerful tool for in-depth study of H 2 S function in various physiological processes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A trivalent chromium (Cr(3+)) fluorescence probe (RhC) was designed and synthesized via Schiff base reaction based on rhodamine-crown ether conjugate. This probe displayed a favorable selectivity for Cr(3+) over a range of other common metal ions in DMF/H2O (3:7, v/v; PBS buffer 50 mmol L(-1); pH=6.8) solution, leading to prominent fluorescence "OFF-ON" switching of the rhodamine fluorophore. The limit of detection was calculated to be 1.5 μmol L(-1) (S/N=3). The binding ratio of RhC-Cr(3+) complex was determined to be 1:2 according to the Job's plot and HR-MS. The probe was successfully applied to examination of Cr(3+) in drinking water spiked samples. The average recoveries ranged from 104.9% to 106.9% at spiked concentration level of 10.00 μmol L(-1), and the obtained results were consistent with those obtained using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). Moreover, bioimaging experiments showed that RhC can sense the Cr(3+) in living cells with a fluorescence enhancement signal., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)