Selective detection of gasotransmitters using fluorescent probes based on transition metal complexes

Abstract

The signalling agents involved in cellular communication display wide chemical diversity. During the last decades, the rise of a new group of transmitters instigated the revision of traditional concepts of intercellular signalling. Gasotransmitters are a family of soluble molecules, either endogenously synthesized or from exogenous origin, which transmits chemical signals that can induce certain physiological or biochemical changes. These small reactive (and usually transient) species are constantly being produced, trafficked, consumed ortransformed in biological environments. Fluorescent probes based on transition metal complexes offer powerful tools to study chemical reactions in the laboratory, through in vitro experiences, and well as the in vivo biochemistry of gasotransmitters in theirnative environments, as long as minimal disturbance to living systems is ensured. Fundamental organic, organo metallic and inorganic reactivity principles, combined with an eye towards biological imaging applications, have given rise to a variety of new chemical tools for probing the complex roles of small molecules in physiologyand pathology. In this work, we present different compounds and tactics to use such probes for the detection and quantification of these biologically relevant chemical analytes.