An effective HBT/indanone-based fluorescent probe for cysteine detection in cells.

The abnormality of Cys concentration in organism could lead to a series of diseases, so its effective detection is of great importance in disease diagnosis. Here we developed a novel ESIPT fluorescent probe HBT-IDAc based on the classic ESIPT fluorophore 2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole (HBT) and indanone, which could selectively and sensitively detect Cys with a large Stokes shift up to 210 nm and the detection limit to 0.89 μM. In addition, the probe exhibited good anti-interference and low cytotoxicity, and has been successfully applied to monitor Cys in cells. • A novel ESIPT fluorescent probe for selective and sensitive detection of Cys was developed. • The probe has the large stokes shift (210 nm) and good LOD (0.89 μM) in aqueous environment. • The probe exhibits low cytotoxicity and has been applied for imaging Cys in cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]