A bioluminescent strategy for imaging palladium in living cells and animals with chemoselective probes based on luciferin-luciferase system.

Abstract To develop a strategy for visualizing palladium species in the biological system, several turn-on bioluminescent probes were designed and synthesized by using a Pd-induced reductive reaction herein. Such probes exhibited high sensitivity (detection limit: 0.5 μM) and excellent selectivity toward Pd2+ in vitro. In particular, probe 2 was identified as a viable molecule with the capability of visualizing the fluctuations of level and distribution of Pd2+ in living cells and animals, which provides a valuable tool for tracing Pd2+ in biological system. Graphical abstract fx1 Highlights • A novel bioluminescent probe for palladium (II) has been developed by using reactivity-based strategy. • This probe exhibited good response and high selectivity toward Pd2+. • This probe was successfully applied for Pd2+ imaging in living cells and animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]