A new probe based on rhodamine B and benzothiazole hydrazine for sensing hypochlorite in living cells and real water samples

We have developed a novel fluorescent probe (RBT) based on rhodamine B and benzothiazole hydrazine units for the detection of hypochlorite in living cells and real water samples with excellent selectivity and sensitivity. In the presence of hypochlorite in a mixture solution of MeCN–PBS (v/v = 3 : 7, pH = 7.4) at room temperature, the fluorescence intensity of RBT increased by 350 fold with the color change from colorless to red. The detection limit of the probe for hypochlorite is 1.06 × 10−9 M. Moreover, RBT was successfully used to image endogenous hypochlorite in living cells and detect hypochlorite in real water samples.