The study of intracellular metal ion compartmentalization and trafficking involved in cellular processes demands sensors with controllable localization for the measurement of organelle-specific levels of cations with subcellular resolution. We introduce herein a new two-step strategy for in situ anchoring and activation of a fluorescent Mg sensor within an organelle of choice, using a fast fluorogenic reaction between a tetrazine-functionalized pro-sensor, Mag-S-Tz, and a strained bicyclononyne conjugated to a genetically encoded HaloTag fusion protein of known cellular localization. Protein conjugation does not affect the metal-binding properties of the o-aminophenol-N,N,O-triacetic acid (APTRA)-based fluorescent indicator, which displays a dissociation constant K = 3.1 mM suitable for the detection of low millimolar concentrations of chelatable Mg typical of the intracellular environment. We demonstrate the application of our sensing system for the ratiometric detection of Mg in target organelles in HEK 293T cells, providing the first direct comparison of subcellular pools of the metal without interfering signal from other compartments. Activation of the fluorescence in situ through a fluorogenic conjugation step effectively constrains the fluorescence signal to the locale of interest, thus improving the spatial resolution in imaging applications and eliminating the need for washout of mislocalized sensor. The labeling strategy is fully compatible with live cell imaging, and provides a valuable tool for tracking changes in metal distribution that to date have been an unsolved mystery in magnesium biology.

A new combination of catalyst and co-additive has been found for aminohalogenation reaction of beta-methyl-beta-nitrostyrenes with N,N-dichloro-p-tolunesulfonamide (4-TsNCl(2)). The reaction was achieved by using MnSO(4) as the catalyst together with tolunesulfonamide to give vicinal haloamino nitroalkanes with opposite regiochemistry to that generated from other electron-deficient olefins observed previously. The reaction proceeded smoothly at room temperature under nitrogen atmosphere to give useful to good yields and excellent regio and stereoselectivity. A mechanism involving the formation of chloronium intermediate was proposed to explain the resulting regio and stereochemistry.

A facile ligand-free palladium-catalyzed intramolecular Heck reaction of β-hydrogen-containing secondary benzylic bromides was developed, which affords pyrroline derivatives with good regioselectivities.

In this joint theoretical and experimental work, we investigate the properties of Mag-fura-2 and seven structurally related fluorescent sensors designed for the ratiometric detection of Mg cations. The synthesis of three new compounds is described, and the absorption and emission spectra of all of the sensors in both their free and metal-bound forms are reported. A time-dependent density functional theory approach accounting for hydration effects using a hybrid implicit/explicit model is employed to calculate the absorption and fluorescence emission wavelengths, study the origins of the hypsochromic shift caused by metal binding for all of the sensors in this family, and investigate the auxochromic effects of various modifications of the "fura" core. The metal-free forms of the sensors are shown to undergo a strong intramolecular charge transfer upon light absorption, which is largely suppressed by metal complexation, resulting in predominantly locally excited states upon excitation of the metal complexes. Our computational protocol might aid in the design of new generations of fluorescent sensors with low-energy excitation and enhanced properties for ratiometric imaging of metal cations in biological samples.

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