Mechanistic studies of fluorescent sensors for the detection of reactive oxygen species

Two new sensors for the detection of reactive oxygen species have been synthesized and characterized; they contain the 4-amino-7-nitrobenzofurazan (ABF) moiety covalently tethered to a phenol. Comparison of sensors ABFhd and dABFhd (the latter containing two ortho-methyl groups) shows that introduction of steric bulk leads to an improvement of fluorescent sensor performance, thus confirming our previous predictions based on computational chemistry. ABFhd and dABFhd are new tools for biological applications involving reactive oxygen species, in particular oxygen-centered radicals.