Imaging of the nuclei of living tumor cells by novel ruthenium(ii) complexes coordinated with 6-chloro-5-hydroxylpyrido[3,2-a]phenazineElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5ra11127g

• Main Authors: Ding, Yang, Wu, Qiong, Zheng, Kangdi, An, Linkun, Hu, Xiaoying, Mei, Wenjie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/c5ra11127g

Two novel ruthenium( ii ) complexes coordinated with 6-chloro-5-hydroxylpyrido[3,2- a ]phenazine (CQM), [Ru(L) 2 (CQM)]ClO 4 [L = 1,10-phenanthroline, ( 1 ) and 2,2′-bipyridine, ( 2 )], were investigated as potential fluorescent probes to track dynamic changes in the nuclei of living cells. Confocal laser technology was used to observe their co-location inside the cells. The results showed that both complexes were taken up by HepG2 cells, especially 1 , which was localized in the cell nuclei, whereas 2 was distributed in the cell nuclei and mitochondria. Further studies by real-time fluorescence observations revealed that 1 rapidly entered the living cells, namely, HepG2, HeLa and MCF-7 cells, imaged the dynamic changes of the nuclei of living tumor cells, and exhibited low toxicity toward cells. The results demonstrated that 1 may be developed into a novel fluorescent probe for living cell nuclei. This study facilitates the development of fluorescent chemosensors with metal complexes. Novel ruthenium( ii ) complex 1 can be developed as a low toxicity fluorescence probe for living cell nuclei in future.