A novel pyrazoline-based fluorescent probe for detection of hydrazine in aqueous solution and gas state and its imaging in living cells

A novel fluorescent probe 4 for hydrazine based on pyrazoline-derived was designed and synthesized. The selective deprotection of phthalimide group of the probe by hydrazine led to a dramatic fluorescent enhancement (similar to 84.7 folds) at 490 nm within 4 min in the aqueous solution. The limit of detection is 0.0622 mu A (1.99 ppb) which is much lower than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standard (10 ppb). Notably, probe 4 could be used to detect hydrazine in gas state with different concentrations through color changes from readily prepared strips. Additionally, probe 4 could also be applied to monitor hydrazine in living cells by biological imaging. (c) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.