Novel triphenylamine-pyrene-based AIEgens: Specific detection and imaging of H2O2 in aqueous solution and cells

• Published in: Journal of molecular structure 2024-12, Vol.1318, p.139262, Article 139262
• Main Authors: Zhou, Xu, Shen, Lingyi, Tan, Xiaoqing, Wang, Xue, Liang, Xi, Shan, Xiaofeng, Xu, Hong, Wang, Zhi-Yong, Redshaw, Carl, Zhang, Qi-Long
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aggregation-induced emission; Cellular imaging; Fluorescent probes; H2O2 detection; ICT
• ISSN: 0022-2860
• DOI: 10.1016/j.molstruc.2024.139262

•High selectivity and low detection limit for the recognition of H2O2.•High solid-state fluorescence quantum yield and long fluorescence lifetime.•Excellent aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) properties. H2O2 plays a key regulatory role as a bioendogenous reactive oxygen species in cells and organisms. However, excessive production or accumulation of H2O2 during mitochondrial oxidative stress may lead to oxidative damage of cellular proteins and trigger rheumatic diseases, cancers, and a variety of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. In addition, H2O2 is a very useful chemical widely employed in the textile and chemical industries, and its excessive emission not only pollutes the environment but also jeopardizes human health. Therefore, the sensitive and specific detection and removal of H2O2 is important for early diagnosis of diseases, treatment prognosis and environmental pollution monitoring. We have designed two novel triphenylamine-based AIEgens MOTPP and MOTPP-B, which each have a high solid-state fluorescence quantum yield and excellent aggregation-induced emission properties. MOTPP-B has high selectivity and anti-interference ability toward H2O2, a wide pH tolerance range, a sensing process that is complete in under 40 min, and a low detection limit of 120.77 nM. It has been successfully applied for the detection of low concentrations of H2O2 in the environment and to dual-channel imaging of low concentrations of exogenous H2O2 in living cells.