Development of a Ruthenium(II) Complex Based Luminescent Probe for Imaging Nitric Oxide Production in Living Cells

A unique ruthenium(II) complex, bis(2,2′‐bipyridine)(4‐(3,4‐diaminophenoxy)‐2,2′‐bipyridine)ruthenium(II) hexafluorophosphate ((Ru(bpy)₂(dabpy)]PF₆]₂), has been designed and synthesized as a highly sensitive and selective luminescence probe for the imaging of nitric oxide (NO) production in living cells. The complex can specifically react with NO in aqueous buffers under aerobic conditions to yield its triazole derivative with a high reaction rate constant at the 10¹⁰ M ^?1 s^?1 level; this reaction is accompanied by a remarkable increase of the luminescence quantum yield from 0.13 to 2.2 %. Compared with organic probes, the new Ru^II complex probe shows the advantages of a large Stokes shift (>150 nm), water solubility, and a wide pH‐availability range (pH independent at pH>5). In addition, it was found that the new probe could be easily transferred into both living animal cells and plant cells by the coincubation method, whereas the triazole derivative was cell‐membrane impermeable. The probe was successfully used for luminescence‐imaging detection of the exogenous NO in mouse macrophage cells and endogenous NO in gardenia cells. The results demonstrated the efficacy and advantages of the new probe for NO detection in living cells.