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Updated: Jan 21, 2026

Photoconversion of Purified Fluorescent Proteins and Dual-probe Optical Highlighting in Live Cells
Published on: June 26, 2010
A mitochondria-targeted two-photon fluorescent probe for sensing and imaging pH changes in living cells
Xueqin Jiang1, Zengjin Liu2, Youzhe Yang3
1The Pharmacy School of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China; The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China.
Abstract:
A novel two-photon pH probe, 3-benzimidazole-7-hydroxycoumarin (BHC), was designed and synthesized based on the structures of hydroxycoumarin and benzimidazole. BHC showed good linearity in the pH ranges of 3.30-5.40 (pKa = 4.20) and 6.50-8.30 (pKa = 7.20) at a maximum emission wavelength of 480 nm. BHC in acidic and alkaline media could be distinguished by an obvious spectral shift of the maximum absorption wavelength from 390 nm to 420 nm. In addition, BHC was well localized to mitochondria and successfully applied to one-photon and two-photon imaging of pH changes in the mitochondria of HeLa cells. The findings presented herein suggest that BHC can serve as an excellent fluorescent probe for selectively sensing mitochondrial pH changes with remarkable photostability and low cytotoxicity.
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