Development of a multi-task formaldehyde specific fluorescent probe for bioimaging in living systems and decoration materials analysis

Formaldehyde (FA) is one of the ubiquitous chemical pollutants in the indoor environment. Excessive inhalation of FA could cause asthma, stupor and even cancer. In addition, FA is the main member of reactive carbonyl species (RCS), it is mainly produced in nucleus and involved in a variety of life activities in organisms. The disorders of FA metabolism could affect the methylation and demethylation of nucleic acids, leading to cognitive impairment and even could cause neurodegenerative diseases, heart disorders and cancers, etc. it is urgent to develop novel tools to monitor FA in the environment and endogenous FA in the nucleus. Herein, we have designed a robust fluorescent probe (Nu-DH) targeted the nucleus to recognize FA. Nu-DH has high selectivity, large turn-on fluorescence (up to 120-fold) signal and sensitive detection for recognizing FA. Furthermore, in molecular docking calculation and titration experiments, Nu-DH has good affinity with DNA and RNA. Most importantly, the unique probe Nu-DH targets nucleus well and has been effectively implemented in zebrafish or in decoration materials for FA imagery. We found that many decoration materials will release a certain amount of FA, among which the FA release amount of white latex is the largest. We expect Nu-DH to become an effective tool for the diagnosis and monitoring of related diseases due to the influence of FA in vivo and in environment.