A new xanthene-based fluorescent probe with a red light emission for selectively detecting glutathione and imaging in living cells

Glutathione (GSH) is the most abundant low-molecular-weight cysteine-containing thiol in cells, which plays an essential role in many biological processes. Most reported fluorescent probes towards GSH possess short excitation and emission wavelength, which could result in low tissue penetration, high background fluorescence and photodamage to biological samples. Herein, a novel turn-on fluorescent probe (ADS) with the xanthene skeleton for GSH detection was developed based on a fluorophore, ACF-NH2. The probe had a red light emission (lambda(em)=630 nm) and exhibited a good linear relationship for exogenous GSH (1-6 mM) and a good limit of detection (LOD: 13.1 mu M, based on S/N - 3), which implied that it was possible to detect the change of GSH in the living cells (0.5-10 mM) by further structural modification. The probe displayed excellent selectivity for GSH over other analytes and good anti-interference ability. Moreover, cell viability assay indicated that ADS was biocompatible and exhibited very low cytotoxicity. A combination of mass spectrum analysis and density functional theory calculation was performed to explain the sensing mechanism of the probe. In addition, it was applied to image GSH in living cells successfully. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.