Glutathione (GSH), the most prevalent nonprotein thiol in biological systems, acts as both an antioxidant to manipulate intracellular redox homeostasis and a nucleophile to detoxify xenobiotics. The fluctuation of GSH is closely related to the pathogenesis of diverse diseases. This work reports the construction of a nucleophilic aromatic substitution-type probe library based on the naphthalimide skeleton. After an initial evaluation, the compound R13 was identified as a highly efficient GSH fluorescent probe. Further studies demonstrate that R13 could readily quantify GSH in cells and tissues via a straightforward fluorometric assay with a comparable accuracy to the results from the HPLC. We then used R13 to quantify the content of GSH in mouse livers after X-ray irradiation, revealing that irradiation-induced oxidative stress leads to the increase of oxidized GSH (GSSG) and depletion of GSH. In addition, probe R13 was also applied to investigate the alteration of the GSH level in the Parkinson’s mouse brains, showing a decrease of GSH and an increase of GSSG in Parkinson’s mouse brains. The convenience of the probe in quantifying GSH in biological samples facilitates further understanding of the fluctuation of the GSH/GSSG ratio in diseases.

The controlled release of a molecule of interest (MOI) is useful in probe design, prodrug construction, and drug delivery. We report herein a versatile thiol-triggered fluorogenic release system using the Baylis–Hillman (BH) adducts as a module. Common functional groups (e.g., amino, hydroxyl, carboxylic, and sulfhydryl groups) in a MOI are readily integrated into the module. The MOI release is fast (∼10 min) with a nearly quantitative yield and a >250-fold fluorescence increment. We further prepared two prodrugs to release camptothecin and nitric oxide (NO) using the two-photon excitable template, and the activation of prodrugs was visualized in live cells and mouse tissues. The therapeutic potential of the NO prodrug was also validated in a stroke model. This BH adduct-based fluorogenic release features multiple advantages, such as easy preparation, compatibility of various functional groups, fast response, high release yield, and tunable emission spectra, and is expected to have broad applications.