Synthesis of fluorescent nanoprobe with simultaneous response to intracellular pH and Zn2+ for tumor cell distinguishment

Abstract

A\xa0novel dual-functional nanoprobe was designed and synthesized by facile assembly of quinoline derivative (PEIQ) and meso-tetra (4-carboxyphenyl) porphine (TCPP) via electrostatic interaction for simultaneous sensing of\xa0fluorescence of Zn 2+ and pH. Under the single-wavelength excitation at 400\xa0nm, this nanoprobe not only exhibits “OFF-ON” green fluorescence at 512\xa0nm by specific PEIQ-Zn 2+ chelation, but also presents red fluorescence enhancement at 654\xa0nm by H + -triggered TCPP release. The nanoprobe demonstrated excellent sensing performance with a good linear range (Zn 2+ , 1–40\xa0μM; pH, 5.0–8.0), low detection limit (Zn 2+ , 0.88\xa0μM), and simultaneous response towards Zn 2+ and pH in pure\xa0aqueous solution within 2\xa0min. More importantly, this dual-functional nanoprobe demonstrates the capability of discerning cancerous cells from normal cells, as evidenced by the fact that\xa0cancerous HepG2 cells in tumor microenvironment exhibit substantially higher red fluorescence and significantly lower green fluorescence than normal HL-7702 cells. The simultaneous, real-time fluorescence imaging of multiple analytes in a living system could be significant for cell analysis and tracking, cancer diagnosis, and even fluorescence-guided surgery of tumors. Graphical abstract