Construction of an AND logic gate fluorescent probe for highly efficient detection of formaldehyde and Pim-1 kinase

In medicine, a more accurate cancer diagnosis and treatment sometimes may require multiple biomarkers. Formaldehyde (HCHO) and kinases are commonly used as biomarkers. If the testing parameters of formaldehyde and kinase can be provided at the same time, the aim of effective and accurate judgment will be achieved. Therefore, the simultaneously detection and quantification of formaldehyde and kinases is very important. In this work, a naphthalimide-based AND logic gate fluorescent probe was reported for detecting formaldehyde and Pim-1 kinase, which could be observed in cells and organisms. The fluorescent probe in its free state was quenched by photo-induced electron transfer principle in PBS buffer solution or in normal cells and zebrafish. When formaldehyde and Pim-1 kinase was detected, the probe emitted strong fluorescence. It showed excellent photophysical properties such as fast response (20 min), high selectivity and high sensitivity (DL = 0.60 μM). It could successfully image HCHO in living cells and zebrafish. It also showed significantly strong fluorescence in the cancer cells that HCHO and Pim-1 kinase over-expressed. In conclusion, it is expected to provide an attractive tool not only for the detection of HCHO, but also for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer by a simple and multifunctional fluorescent probe proposed in this work. Furthermore, this new fluorescent assay is exploited to enable the fabrication of an AND logic gate.