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Benzylic Trifluoromethyl Accelerates 1,6-Elimination Toward Rapid Probe Activation
Liming Wang1, Aditya Sivakumar1, Rui Zhang1
1Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Abstract:
Activity-based detection of hydrogen sulfide in live cells can expand our understanding of its reactivity and complex physiological effects. We have discovered a highly efficient method for fluorescent probe activation, which is driven by H2S-triggered 1,6-elimination of an α-CF3-benzyl to release resorufin. In detecting intracellular H2S, 4-azido-(α-CF3)-benzyl resorufin offers significantly faster signal generation and improved sensitivity compared to 4-azidobenzyl resorufin. Computed free energy profiles for the 1,6-elimination process support the hypothesis that a benzylic CF3 group can reduce the activation energy barrier toward probe activation. This novel probe design allows for near-real-time detection of H2S in HeLa cells under stimulation conditions.
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