A lipophilic copper(II) complex as an optical probe for intracellular detection of NO

Abstract

A new chemical sensor for cellular imaging of NO is presented. This cell - permeable probe is ba sed on a complex where copper(II) is coordinated to a tridentate ligand substituted with a fluorophore (NBD) and an octyl group . The fluorescent response of this complex towards a range of reactive species (namely NO, NO 2 - , NO 3 - , H 2 O 2 , ClO - , O 2 - and ONOO - ) has been studied in vitro showing that the probe is hig h ly selective for NO. The probe is readily taken up by cells and is able to image the cellular concentrations of NO