Nitric oxide (NO) is a molecule of paramount importance to human health and is involved as a physiological regulator in the nervous, immune, and cardiovascular systems.  Fluorescein-based dyes have been used for NO imaging but they are still several questions and shortcomings, and the design of ratiometric NO sensors is an area of intense current research interest. Re and Ru complexes of phenanthroline and substituted analogs offer potent platforms for the design of NO-selective dyes, because of their favorable photophysics, tunability, and synthetic versatility in accommodating conjugated ligands that give them suitable absorption/emission patterns in the desired NO-detection window for imaging in living cells. Complexes of these families were synthesized, characterized, and investigated for NO sensing via monitoring of their fluorescent response in solution upon NO addition. We aim to characterize the species involved and carry out mechanistic studies, so that a reversible, ratiometric, and selective dye for imaging of NO in living cells will eventually emerge.

Metal complexes of phenanthroline and analogs as versatile frameworks for Nitric Oxide sensing and imaging

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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