Colorimetric Detection of Thiols Using a Chromene Molecule

Highly selective and sensitive detection of glutathione using mesoporous silica nanoparticles capped with disulfide-containing oligo(ethylene glycol) chains

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded with safranin O and capped with disulfide-containing oligo(ethylene glycol) chains were used for the selective and sensitive fluorimetric detection of glutathione.

Profiling thiol metabolites and quantification of cellular glutathione using FT-ICR-MS spectrometry

We describe preparation and use of the quaternary ammonium-based α-iodoacetamide QDE and its isotopologue *QDE as reagents for chemoselective derivatization of cellular thiols. Direct addition of the reagents to live cells followed by adduct extraction into n-butanol and analysis by FT-ICR-MS provided a registry of matched isotope peaks from which molecular formulae of thiol metabolites were derived. Acidification to pH 4 during cell lysis and adduct formation further improves the chemoselectivity for thiol derivatization. Examination of A549 human lung adenocarcinoma cells using this approach revealed cysteine, cysteinylglycine, glutathione, and homocysteine as principal thiol metabolites as well as the sulfinic acid hypotaurine. The method is also readily applied to quantify the thiol metabolites, as demonstrated here by the quantification of both glutathione and glutathione disulfide in A549 cells at concentrations of 34.4 ± 11.5 and 10.1 ± 4.0 nmol/mg protein, respectively.

Thiol-addition reactions and their applications in thiol recognition

Because of the biological importance of thiols, the development of probes for thiols has been an active research area in recent years. In this review, we summarize the results of recent exciting reports regarding thiol-addition reactions and their applications in thiol recognition. The examples reported can be classified into four reaction types including 1,1, 1,2, 1,3, 1,4 addition reactions, according to their addition mechanisms, based on different Michael acceptors. In all cases, the reactions are coupled to color and/or emission changes, although some examples dealing with electrochemical recognition have also been included. The use of thiol-addition reactions is a very simple and straightforward procedure for the preparation of thiol-sensing probes.

Sensitive and regenerable organochalcogen probes for the colorimetric detection of thiols

Isothiazolone and isoselenazolone based colorimetric probes for the detection of thiols have been reported. A regenerable probe for the detection of organothiols is developed from isoselenazolone. Both of these probes possess higher selectivity for aromatic thiols, cysteine and glutathione.

A dioxadithiaazacrown ether–BODIPY dyad Hg2+ complex for detection of l-cysteine: fluorescence switching and application to soft material

A Hg²⁺ coordinate complex of a 1,4-dioxa-7,13-dithia-10-azacyclopentadecane–BODIPY dyad recognises l-cysteine (cys) via reversible complexation/decomplexation and show switching of fluorescence upon sequential addition of Hg²⁺ and cys in solution as well as in hydrogel.

Thiol reactive probes and chemosensors

Thiols are important molecules in the environment and in biological processes. Cysteine (Cys), homocysteine (Hcy), glutathione (GSH) and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) play critical roles in a variety of physiological and pathological processes. The selective detection of thiols using reaction-based probes and sensors is very important in basic research and in disease diagnosis. This review focuses on the design of fluorescent and colorimetric probes and sensors for thiol detection. Thiol detection methods include probes and labeling agents based on nucleophilic addition and substitution, Michael addition, disulfide bond or Se-N bond cleavage, metal-sulfur interactions and more. Probes for H₂S are based on nucleophilic cyclization, reduction and metal sulfide formation. Thiol probe and chemosensor design strategies and mechanism of action are discussed in this review.

A naphthalimide-based glyoxal hydrazone for selective fluorescence turn-on sensing of Cys and Hcy

A fluorescent turn-on probe for Cys/Hcy based on inhibiting the C═N isomerization quenching process by an intramolecular hydrogen bond was reported. The probe exhibited higher selectivity toward Cys/Hcy over other amino acids as well as thiol-containing compounds.

Nitroolefin-based coumarin as a colorimetric and fluorescent dual probe for biothiols

A coumarin-based thiol probe featuring the 1,4-addition reaction of thiols to nitroolefin was reported. The molecular probe exhibited higher selectivity toward biothiols (Cys, Hcy and GSH) than other amino acids.

A Cu@Au nanoparticle-based colorimetric competition assay for the detection of sulfide anion and cysteine

As an extension of our previous work, which described the unique ability of the core/shell Cu@Au nanoparticle (NP) to selectively recognize iodide, (1) herein, we wish to report the development of an alternatively sensitive and selective colorimetric detection for sulfide anion and cysteine based upon the Cu@Au NP by a competition avenue. In the absence of sulfide anion or cysteine, iodide can induce an appreciable color change of the Cu@Au NP solution from purple to red by transforming the clusters of NP to single, nearly spherical, and larger ones. However, the transformation is severely interfered by the presence of sulfide or cysteine because of a higher binding strength of the S-Au bond than the I-Au one. As a result, the clear purple-to-red color change induced by iodide is affected as a correlation with the concentration of sulfide or cysteine. By taking advantage of this fact, we can detect a concentration of 3 μM for sulfide and 0.4 μM for cysteine with the naked eye or 0.3 μM (10 ppb) for sulfide and 50 nM (6 ppb) for cysteine aided by a UV/vis spectrometer. Given the detrimental effect of hydrogen sulfide and the biological importance of cysteine, the assay may become useful in the environment monitoring, water quality inspection and biomedical diagnosis as well.

A selective, sensitive, and chromogenic chemodosimeter for cyanide based on the 1,1'-binaphthyl scaffold

A highly selective chemodosimeter 1 for cyanide based on the 1,1'-binaphthyl skeleton is described which demonstrated significant visual change and a low limit of detection. Interestingly, a reversible process triggered successively by CN(-) and Au(3+) is also observed and determined by fluorescence, UV-vis spectra, (1)H NMR titration, and ESI-MS.

Chromogenic and fluorogenic chemosensors and reagents for anions. A comprehensive review of the year 2009

This critical review is focused on examples reported in the year 2009 dealing with the design of chromogenic and fluorogenic chemosensors or reagents for anions (264 references).

Reversing the size-dependence of surface plasmon resonances

The size-dependence of surface plasmon resonances (SPRs) is poorly understood in the small particle limit due to complex physical/chemical effects and uncertainties in experimental samples. In this article, we report an approach for synthesizing an ideal class of colloidal Ag nanoparticles with highly uniform morphologies and narrow size distributions. Optical measurements and theoretical analyses for particle diameters in the d approximately 2-20 nm range are presented. The SPR absorption band exhibits an exceptional behavior: As size decreases from d approximately 20 nm it blue-shifts but then turns over near d approximately 12 nm and strongly red-shifts. A multilayer Mie theory model agrees well with the observations, indicating that lowered electron conductivity in the outermost atomic layer, due to chemical interactions, is the cause of the red-shift. We corroborate this picture by experimentally demonstrating precise chemical control of the SPR peak positions via ligand exchange.

A highly selective fluorescent probe for detection of biological samples thiol and its application in living cells

Probe 1 was designed and synthesized as a new fluorescent molecular probe for thiols in PBS buffer at physiological condition. This fluorescent molecular probe consists of a thiol reaction moiety bound to a coumarin fluorophore. Its fluorescence quantum yield is low, but a drastic enhancement of fluorescence intensity was observed in the presence of thiols. Possible interference with other analytes was examined. Probe 1 displays a highly selective fluorescent enhancement with thiols, and the probe was successfully applied to thiols determination in intracellular, in human urine and blood samples.

Fluorescent and colorimetric probes for detection of thiols

Due to the biological importances of thiols, such as cysteine, homocysteine and glutathione, the development of optical probes for thiols has been an active research area in recent few years. This critical review focuses on the fluorescent or colorimetric sensors for thiols according to their unique mechanisms between sensors and thiols, including Michael addition, cyclization with aldehyde, cleavage of sulfonamide and sulfonate ester by thiols, cleavage of selenium-nitrogen bond by thiols, cleavage of disulfide by thiols, metal complexes-oxidation-reduction, metal complexes-displace coordination, nano-particles and others (110 references).

A thiol-specific fluorescent probe and its application for bioimaging

A fluorescent probe based on fluorescein displays an excellent selectivity and sensitivity for thiols and its application for bioimaging is described.