New phenanthroimidazole-based fluorescent probe for bisulfite and its application in living cell imaging

A new colorimetric fluorescent probe 1 contained a C˭C double bond for the detection of bisulfite (HSO3-) via Michael-Addition was developed. Significantly, probe 1 can detect HSO3- with excellent selectivity, high sensitivity, fast response (< 10 min) and low detection limit (21 nM). Furthermore, the live cell imaging results provided a powerful method to study HSO3- chemistry in biological systems.