An effective colorimetric and ratiometric fluorescent probe based FRET with a large Stokes shift for bisulfite.

Bisulfite plays crucial roles in diverse physiological processes. Therefore, the efficient detection of bisulfite is very important. In this study, we report a colorimetric and ratiometric fluorescent probe (CPT) with a large Stokes shift (162 nm) for bisulfite (HSO3(-)) based FRET mechanism. The probe can quantitatively detect HSO3(-) with low detection limit (45 nM) and high specificity over other common anions and biothiols. A nucleophilic addition reaction was proposed for the sensing mechanism, which was confirmed by HRMS spectra. The test strips of the probe were made and used easily. Moreover, probe CPT was used to ratiometric fluorescent imaging of exogenous and endogenous HSO3(-) in living cells.