A ratiometric fluorescent probe based on monochlorinated BODIPY for the discrimination of thiophenols over aliphatic thiols in water samples and in living cells

We report a fluorescent probe for thiophenol based on a new sensing strategy via the aromatic nucleophilic substitution reaction between thiophenol and mono-chlorinated BODIPY, which enable the ratiometric detection of thiophenol. The probe showed fast response towards thiophenols over aliphatic thiols and displayed ∼650-fold fluorescence ratio variation and a remarkable detection limit of 36.9 nM. A linear calibration graph indicated that it can be potentially employed to detect thiophenol quantitatively. Its potential applications were confirmed by employing it for detection of thiophenol in water samples and fluorescence imaging of thiophenol in living cells.