A near-infrared hepatocyte-targeting probe based on Tricyanofuran to detect cysteine in vivo: Design, synthesis and evaluation.

In this work, a near-infrared hepatocyte-targeting fluorescence probe TCF-Gal-Cys was developed. The TCF-Gal-Cys exhibited a low detection limit, good sensitivity and selectivity toward Cys. The responsive mechanism of TCF-Gal-Cys was proposed that the acrylate of TCF-Gal-Cys was subsequently attacked by the thiol group and the amino group of Cys, releasing a strong near-infrared fluorescent group. TCF-Gal-Cys displayed a good hepatocyte-targeting capacity and could specifically distinguish hepatocytes from A549, Hela, SGC-7901 cells because the galactose group of TCF-Gal-Cys can be recognized by HepG2 cells overexpressing ASGPR. The TCF-Gal-Cys has achieved excellently imaging performance to Cys in the zebrafish, so TCF-Gal-Cys has potential to be an effective tool to in real time monitor Cys-related diseases in vitro and in vivo.