Development of ratiometric molecular probes for monitoring oxygen levels in living cells

设计并合成了一种用于测量脂膜和活细胞中氧含量的比率分子探针。合成的分子对香豆素343表现出氧不敏感的荧光，与Ir络合物表现出氧敏感的磷光。在有脂膜存在的情况下，随着溶液中氧浓度的降低，磷光强度与荧光强度的比值增大。将这些探针加入细胞培养液中，孵育细胞。用显微技术获得活细胞的荧光和磷光图像。这些结果表明，比率分子探针在活体细胞内氧水平的测量和图像方面具有很高的优势。

Ratiometric molecular probes for the measurement of oxygen levels in lipid membranes and living cells were designed and synthesized. The synthesized molecules showed an oxygen-insensitive fluorescence with coumarin 343 and an oxygen-sensitive phosphorescence with iridium complexes. The ratio of the phosphorescence intensity for the fluorescence intensity increased with the decrease of oxygen concentration in the solution under the presence of lipid membranes. These probes were added to the cell medium and cells were incubated. The fluorescence and phosphorescence images of living cells were obtained by using microscopic techniques. These results exhibited that the ratiometric molecular probe has a high advantage for the measurements and the images of oxygen levels in living cells.