A lysosomal localized fluorescence probe for the detection of formaldehyde and its cell imaging

Formaldehyde (FA) is one of reactive carbonyl species (RCS), which is involved in various physiological and pathological processes of organisms. Herein, a novel fluorescent probe ( FAP1 ) containing lysosomal localization group for the detection of FA was designed and synthesized. The probe exhibited good fluorescence recognition performances for FA, such as large Stokes shift (130 nm), specific selectivity , good anti-interference ability, and low minimum detection limit (16 nM). It is worth mentioning that the probe has good biocompatibility and could be applied to the imaging detection of FA in lysosome .