Formaldehyde (FA) is a product of an endogenous production that is formed through demethylase and oxidase enzymes, which regulate epigenetics and metabolism. However, the presence of abnormally high levels of FA are often associated with a variety of disease pathologies, including chronic liver, heart and neurodegenerative diseases, in addition to diabetes and various cancers. Hence, a more efficient tool for monitoring FA in living systems is required to better investigate the biological roles of FA in physiology and pathology. Herein, describe a new aggregation-induced emission based fluorescent probe (MPIPA) to detect formaldehyde (FA) with high selectivity and an ultra-low detection limit (123 nM). Importantly, the new probe permits the successfully detection of exogenous and endogenous FA in living cells and clinical cancer tissues for the first time, which has important implications.

甲醛（FA）是通过脱甲基酶和氧化酶（调节表观遗传学和代谢）形成的内源性产物。然而，除糖尿病和各种癌症外，异常高水平的FA的存在通常与多种疾病病理相关，包括慢性肝，心脏和神经退行性疾病。因此，需要一种用于监测生命系统中FA的更有效工具，以更好地研究FA在生理和病理学中的生物学作用。本文中，描述了一种新的基于聚集诱导发射的荧光探针（MPIPA）以高选择性和超低检测限（123 nM）检测甲醛（FA）。重要的是，这种新探针允许首次成功检测活细胞和临床癌症组织中的外源性和内源性FA，这具有重要意义。