Chemistry of the carboxylic acid of dihydrofluorescein in oxidation and its application to fluorogenic ROS sensing.

The conjugation site of dihydrofluorescein (H2F) is important for the rational design of H2F-based reactive oxygen species (ROS) sensors. Despite the prevalence of H2F analogs detecting cellular ROS, the role of the carboxylic acid of H2F in oxidation is still unclear. To get insight into the conjugation site of H2F, we synthesized H2F diacetate (2) and its amide derivative (3). The absorption and emission spectra of deacetylated 2 and 3 in the presence of H2O2/hematin showed that the carboxylic acid of H2F plays a crucial role in the oxidation of H2F. NMR and HPLC analysis of the oxidation product of deacetylated 3 showed a quantitative and fast generation of non-fluorescent spirolactam (F-Lactam). As regards these observations, we untouched the carboxylic acid at the 3rd position and designed an H2F-based ROS sensor (7) that conjugated the lipophilic chain at the 5th position instead. A series of confocal microscopic experiments of 7 demonstrated that 7 prefers the ER location and that ROS are elevated in the cells by ER stress inducers.