Oxygen-Embedded Pentacene Based Near-Infrared Chemiluminescent Nanoprobe for Highly Selective and Sensitive Visualization of Peroxynitrite In Vivo

Peroxynitrite (ONOO^-) is involved in neurodegenerative, inflammatory, cardiovascular disorders, cancers, and other pathological progress. However, current imaging methods for sensing ONOO^- usually suffer from high background/autofluorescence for fluorescent probes and poor selectivity/short emission wavelength for chemiluminescent probes. Herein, we present a novel chemiluminescent molecule (oxygen-embedded quinoidal pentacene) responsive to ONOO^- for the first time, on the basis of which we rationally construct a near-infrared nanoprobe for detecting ONOO^- via chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer (CRET) mechanism. Notably, our nanoprobe exhibits good selectivity, ultrahigh sensitivity (nanomole level), low background noise, fast response, and high water solubility. Moreover, the near-infrared emission from CRET offers higher tissue penetration of the chemiluminescent signal. Finally, our nanoprobe is further successfully applied to detecting endogenous ONOO^- in mice with abdominal inflammation, drug-induced hepatotoxicity, or tumor models in vivo. In summary, the self-luminescing nanoprobes can act as an alternative visualizable tool for illuminating the mechanism of ONOO^- involved in the specific pathological process.