Herein, a novel strategy was proposed for identifying
carbon monoxide
(CO), which plays a crucial part in living systems. For the first
time, we have managed to design, synthesize, and characterize successfully
this new Cu2+-assisted fluorescent probe (DPHP) in detecting CO. Compared with the commonly adopted Pd0-mediated Tsuji–Trost reaction recognition method, such a
new strategy did not engage costly palladium (II) salt and generated
no leaving group, indicating a satisfactory anti-interference ability.
The recognition mechanism was confirmed by IR, 1H NMR titration,
HR-MS, cyclic voltammetry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electron
paramagnetic resonance, and optical properties. Surprisingly, it was
found that the new method achieved high selectivity and rapid identification
of CO with a lower limit of detection (1.7 × 10–8 M). More intriguingly, it could recognize endogenous and exogenous
CO in HeLa cells. The cytotoxicity of this new method was so low that
it allowed the detection of CO in mice and zebrafish. Basically, our
results trigger a novel viewpoint of rationally designing and synthesizing
advanced materials for CO detection with unique features, impelling
new research in detection chemistry.