ESIPT-based ratiometric fluorescent probe for highly selective and sensitive sensing and bioimaging of group IIIA ions in living cancer cells and zebrafish

Gallium, aluminum, and indium belong to Group IIIA of the periodic table with similar chemical properties, which were a double-edged sword for living organisms. Therefore, it's particularly important to detect the content of Group IIIA in organisms. Obviously, the fluorescent probe method has become a mainstream method for detecting metal ions with advantages of convenience and high efficiency. Unfortunately, fluorescent probes that can simultaneously detect these three metal ions are rarely reported. 3-hydroxyflavone (3-HF) is a highly focused molecule with chemical and photochemical properties and have great potential for bioimaging applications as sensors with excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT). Here, 3-HF as ratiometric fluorescence probes have been developed for responding to Group IIIA ions including Ga(III), Al(III) and In(III) ions with ESIPT-based mechanism. 3-HF displayed highly specific sensing for Group IIIA ions over other cations with a green fluorescence transformation into blue fluorescence by the formation of 2:1 complexes. However, rapid response toward Group IIIA ions was developed using ratiometric fluorescence with wide pH range and good reversibility, and the response mechanism of 3-HF toward Group IIIA ions was annotated by density functional theory (DFT). Furthermore, the biological applicability of 3-HF has shown that 3-HF were able to detect and image Group IIIA ions in cells. Additionally, using a zebrafish model, we exhibited the capability of this 3-HF probe for detecting and imaging Group IIIA ions in zebrafish. This work achieves the detection and imaging of Group IIIA simultaneously by 3-HF probe in living cells and zebrafish and provides another example for “ESIPT OFF”.