Supramolecular Fluorescent Probes for the Detection of Reactive Oxygen Species Discovered via High-Throughput Screening.

Supramolecular fluorescent probes for the detection of reactive oxygen species (ROSs) are designed based on a pro-guest strategy. Nine commercially available fluorescent dyes, six host molecules, and a pro-guest are used to rapidly generate a library of 54 potential supramolecular probes. These potential supramolecular probes are screened in a high-throughput fashion using a plate reader to discover seven "hits" or workable probes. The mechanism is confirmed to be ROS-induced conversion from a low-binding-affinity pro-guest to a high-binding-affinity guest and the competitive displacement of the encapsulated fluorescent dye. The response to H 2 O 2 of four supramolecular probes is found to be concentration-dependent and may be used for quantitative analysis of H 2 O 2 . The supramolecular probe is selectively responsive toward other oxidative agents, such as NaClO and Na 2 SO 3 . The cell study shows that supramolecular probes are capable of detecting H 2 O 2 in human cancer cells (MCF-7 or HeLa).