NIR Fluorescent AzaBODIPY-Based Probe for the Specific Detection of L-Lysine

With 1-(5-chloro-thiophen-2-yl)-ethanone as the starting material, 3,5-dichloro-azaBODIPY 2 was successfully prepared. AzaBODIPY can be modified by nucleophilic monosubstitution with N-nucleophile at room temperature. Since the previous work on specifically detecting L-lysine (Lys) is scarce, dichloro-aZaBODIPY 2 is valuable as a probe for detecting Lys. Probe 2 was found to be selective and sensitive to Lys. Moreover, probe 2 can be used to detect Lys in PC3 cells, indicating its potential application for studying the effect of Lys in biological systems.