Ruthenium complexes are very useful phosphorescent probes for the visualization of hypoxia. We designed and synthesized three ruthenium complexes possessing bromopyrene, naphthalene, or anthracene units to improve the oxygen response. These ruthenium complexes provided strong phosphorescence under hypoxic conditions, while an increase in oxygen concentration led to a decrease in phosphorescence intensity. Among the ruthenium complexes, that with a bromopyrene unit (Ru-BrPy) had the best properties. This showed good cellular uptake and bright emission in cells, and had the highest sensitivity for molecular oxygen. Thus, Ru-BrPy is a promising candidate as a molecular probe for detecting cellular hypoxia.

钌配合物是用于可视化缺氧的非常有用的磷光探针。我们设计并合成了三种具有溴py，萘或蒽单元的钌配合物，以改善氧反应。这些钌配合物在缺氧条件下提供了很强的磷光，而氧浓度的增加导致磷光强度的降低。在钌配合物中，具有溴py单元（Ru-BrPy）的具有最佳性能。这显示出良好的细胞摄取和细胞中的明亮发射，并且对分子氧具有最高的敏感性。因此，Ru-BrPy是一种有望用于检测细胞缺氧的分子探针。