A Colorimetric Fluorescent Probe for SO₂ Derivatives-Bisulfite and Sulfite at Nanomolar Level

A colorimetric fluorescent probe with fluorescence emission feature sensitive to SO₂ derivatives, i.e. bisulfite (HSO₃^-) and sulfite (SO₃^2-), was developed based on the HSO₃^-/SO₃^2--mediated nucleophilic addition reaction of the probe that. This probe exhibited SO₃^2- sensing ability with detection limit down to 46 nM and desired selectivity over other reference anions and redox species. The preliminary fluorescence bioimaging experiments have validated the practicability of the as-prepared probe for SO₂ derivatives sensing in living cells.