Small-Molecule Fluorescent Sensors for Reactive Oxygen and Reactive Nitrogen Species

Abstract

Reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) play important roles in redox signaling and oxidative stress, thus serve as key regulators in human health and diseases such as cancer, inflammation, and neurodegenerative diseases.1 By exploring new sensing strategy and responsive moiety, we have developed a series of small-molecule fluorescent sensors (HKSOX, HKPerox, HKOCl, HKOH, HKGreen/HKYellow) for highly selective and sensitive detection of superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, hypochlorous acid, hydroxyl radical and peroxynitrite, respectively.2–8 These sensors have been widely applied in confocal imaging, flow cytometry analysis, tissue staining, and zebrafish imaging. Moreover, we have extended our sensing strategies onto other fluorescent/luminescent templates to develop more advanced probes with different excitation/emission wavelengths, ratiometric detection, and organelle-targeting properties. Our comprehensive molecular tools could be robustly applied in investigations of redox biology and medicine, facilitating the discovery of new diagnosis and therapeutics.