A novel cellulose-based fluorescent probe for the quantitative detection of HCHO in real food samples and living cells

As a class of environmental pollutants and carcinogens, abnormal levels of formaldehyde (HCHO) can cause great harm to living organisms. In this work, a sensitive, biocompatibility, highly selective and rapid response cellulose-based fluorescent probe (HEC-FA) functionalized with hydrazinyl naphthalimide was designed for HCHO detection. A “turn-on” fluorescence response of naphthylamine fluorophores was triggered based on the principle that the reaction of HCHO and -NH-NH2 limits the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) process. HEC-FA showed a significant fluorescence response to HCHO at 552 nm. The probe can achieve rapid identification of HCHO within 2 min with a fluorescence response multiple of 12.3-fold and the limit of detection was 0.09 ppm (2.97 μM). In addition, it can be served as fluorescence imaging of HCHO in HepG2 cells. The practical performance of the HEC-FA can be greatly improved by making it into gel and test strip. The probe also has been successfully served as the analysis and detection of HCHO in food and water.