Dual-Phosphorescent Iridium(III) Complexes Extending Oxygen Sensing from Hypoxia to Hyperoxia

Hypoxia and hyperoxia, referring to states of biological tissues in which oxygen supply is in sufficient and excessive, respectively, are often pathological conditions. Many luminescent oxygen probes have been developed for imaging intracellular and in vivo hypoxia, but their sensitivity toward hyperoxia becomes very low. Here we report a series of iridium(III) complexes in which limited internal conversion between two excited states results in dual phosphorescence from two different excited states upon excitation at a single wavelength. Structural manipulation of the complexes allows rational tuning of the dual-phosphorescence properties and the spectral profile response of the complexes toward oxygen. By manipulating the efficiency of internal conversion between the two emissive states, we obtained a complex exhibiting naked-eye distinguishable green, orange, and red emission in aqueous buffer solution under an atmosphere of N₂, air, and O₂, respectively. This complex is used for intracellular and in vivo oxygen sensing not only in the hypoxic region but also in normoxic and hyperoxic intervals. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of using a molecular probe for simultaneous bioimaging of hypoxia and hyperoxia.