A fluorescent probe derived from benzofuranone for turn-on detection of sulfite in living cells and mice

A novel benzofuranone fluorescent probe, BFO-SFT, for monitoring sulfite in living cells and mice is described which operates over a wide pH range and exhibits a red-shifted emission maximum. The response of the probe BFO-SFT was relatively rapid (within 20 min) and exhibited a good linear correlation of 0–10 Eq (100 μM) with reliable accuracy (R2 = 0.9934). The probe also showed high sensitivity (Limit of detection = 152 nM) and selectivity. With low cytotoxicity, BFO-SFT was successfully applied into the biological imaging of sulfite in living MCF-7 cells and in BALB/C Nude mice.