A multi-emissive fluorescent probe for the discrimination of glutathione and cysteine

Glutathione (GSH) and cysteine (Cys) play different roles in biological systems, thus the discrimination between them is of great importance. Herein we report a multi-emissive fluorescent probe for the selective detection of GSH and Cys. The probe was composed of covalently linked BODIPY and coumarin fluorophores. The BODIPY fluorophore was designed to react with GSH and Cys and generate different products with distinct photophysical properties, and the coumarin fluorophore acted as an internal standard. The probe exhibited green emission in aqueous solution. Upon addition of Cys, it yielded nitrogen-substituted BODIPY with weak fluorescence and free coumarin with blue emission. In the presence of glutathione, it generated mono- and di-sulfur substituted BODIPY and coumarin, resulting in various emission colors at different concentrations of GSH. Interestingly, the solution exhibited white fluorescence at GSH concentration of 0.4 mM. The probe was capable of detecting and imaging GSH and Cys in living HeLa cells, indicating its significant potential in biological applications.