Zhiqiang Mao

Hubei University · Department of Chemistry

A fluorescence chemsensor for carbon monoxide (CO), based on transformation of weakly fluorescent iodide to strong fluorescent amino product upon reacting with CO, shows abilities of quantitative measurement of CO in air at a level of 50-1000 ppm and real-time and on-site monitoring for CO flammation/explosion.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has received extensive attention as a promising cancer treatment approach. Still, challenges to in vivo photodynamic therapy have existed for decades. First, the “always on” nature of conventional photosensitizers will cause damage to normal tissues thereby limiting the treatment efficiency of PDT. Second, the hypoxic TME...

Near‐infrared fluorescence imaging is vital for exploring the biological world. The short emissions (<650 nm) and small Stokes shifts (<30 nm) of current xanthene dyes obstruct their biological applications since a long time. Recently, a potent and universal THQ structural modification technique that shifts emission to the NIR‐I/II range and enable...

Dual-channel fluorescent probes could respond to a specific target and emit different wavelengths of fluorescence before and after the response. Such probes could alleviate the influence caused by the variation of the probe concentration, excitation intensity, and so on. However, for most dual-channel fluorescent probes, the probe and fluorophore f...

Cancer cells are a class of important tumor biomarkers and are closely related to tumorous progression. It is urgent to develop a sensitive and highly efficient method for the rapid and accurate detection of cancer cells. Herein, an aptamer sandwiched nanochannel electrochemical sensor was established for the highly selective determination of cance...

In recent years, BODIPY-based theranostics have increasingly been used in cancer therapy and have achieved significant success. According to photochemical theories, the optical imaging (e.g., fluorescence [FLI]/photoacoustic [PAI]/photothermal imaging [PTI]) and phototherapy properties (photodynamic therapy [PDT] and photothermal therapy [PTT]) of...

Inflammation is a critical physiological process in the human body, which is closely related to numerous disorders and cancers. ONOO- is generated and functionalized in the inflamed process, but the roles of ONOO- are still blurred. To illuminate the roles of ONOO-, we fabricated an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT)-based fluorescence probe, HDM...

Noninvasively imaging mercury poisoning in living organisms is critical to understanding its toxicity and treatments. Especially, simultaneous fluorescence imaging of Hg2+ and MeHg+in vivo is helpful to disclose the mysteries of mercury poisoning. The key limitation for mercury imaging in vivo is the low imaging signal-to-background ratio (SBR) and...

An activatable probe able to detect RONS level underlying the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) would be far-reaching for the diagnosis and drug efficacy assessment of RA. Despite more and more evidence suggests that ONOO⁻ is an important signaling molecule participating in the RA disease, only rare fluorescent probes can detect ONOO⁻ in thi...

Peroxynitrite (ONOO⁻) plays a critical role in Alzheimer's disease (AD). To reveal the ONOO⁻ influx in AD brains, an activatable activity‐based fluorescence probe Rd‐DPA3 was designed by a structure‐modulated strategy. Taking advantage of ONOO⁻‐initiated two‐step cascade reactions of a novel chemical trigger, Rd‐DPA3 specifically responds to ONOO⁻...

Peroxynitrite (ONOO ‐ ) plays a critical role in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the association between ONOO ‐ and AD is inexplicit. To reveal the ONOO ‐ influxes in AD brains, an activatable activity‐based fluorescence probe Rd‐DPA3 was rationally designed by a structure‐modulated strategy. Taking advantage of ONOO ‐ ‐sparked two‐step cascade react...

Peroxynitrite (ONOO⁻), one of the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), is famous for its potent oxidation and nitration capabilities and plays crucial roles in various pathological conditions. Given the similar chemical properties of various RONS (e.g. short half-life time, ultralow content, and mutual interconversion), specific detecting o...

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has become an attractive alternative in the field of oncology therapy; however, its therapeutic efficacy is suppressed by the hypoxic tumor microenvironment within solid tumors. We engineered a theranostic molecule (DHQ-Cl-Azo) with hypoxia-responsive chemical and PDT functionalities for the cooperative treatment of solid...

Comprehensive Summary Formaldehyde (FA) plays critical roles in Alzheimer's disease and the associations between FA and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are still obscure. To reveal FA fluxes in the Alzheimer's disease brain, an activity‐based fluorescence probe NP‐FA with superb blood‐brain barrier permeable abilities was exquisitely designed. The probe r...

As the most pivotal organ of the human body, brain is susceptible to various disorder and trauma. Generally, brain diseases can be diagnosed only in the advanced stage where there is no treatment to fully cure these diseases. Although enormous efforts have been involved in the treatment of brain diseases over the years, it still acts as one of the...

Inflammation is an important protection reaction in living organisms associated with many diseases. Since peroxynitrite (ONOO-) is engaged in the inflammatory processes, illustrating the key nexus between ONOO- and inflammation is significant. Due to the lack of sensitive ONOO-in vivo detection methods, the research still remains at its infancy. He...

Abnormal expression of leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) in living system is associated with various diseases. But so far, there is no detailed imaging analysis of LAP distribution in living cells and organisms with fluorescent probes. In this work, we present a fast-response fluorescent read-out probe (NBD-S-Leu) for imaging LAP in living cancer cells...

Caspases are a family of proteases that play critical roles in controlling inflammation and cell death. Apoptosis is a caspase-3 mainly controlled behavior to avoid inflammation and damage to surrounding cells, whereas anomalistic cell apoptosis may be associated with many diseases. The detection and imaging of caspase-3 will be of great significan...

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the world, which is associated with malfunction of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) in cerebral microvessels. In vivo monitoring these species, such as ONOO−, with high selectivity in stroke process is of great significance for early diagnoses and therapie...

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a prevalent liver disease and the leading cause for acute liver failure (ALF) worldwide. Screening of DILI in patients is central to ensure drug safety and improve therapy efficiency. Mounting evidences revealed that peroxynitrite (ONOO −) is involved in the DILI process and can be a potential bio-marker for DILI...

Malignant tumor remains one of the leading causes of deaths across the world. Thus, early diagnose of tumor development with noninvasive visualizing methods is significant for tumor therapy. Herein, an activatable two-photon NIR fluorescent probe DHQ-Rd-PN for in vivo imaging of peroxynitrite in tumor was elaborately designed. The probe demonstrate...

Alcohol-induced Liver injury has been a terrible threat for human health and life. The relationship between HClO and the process is unclear. Thus, a ratiometric two-photon fluorescent probe for HClO...

A turn-on two-photon fluorescent probe HCA-Green for hypochlorous acid (HOCl) was sythesized using 4-methylamino-1,8-naphthalimide (MNA) as the two-photon fluorophore and p-hydroxyaniline as the leaving–recognition domain. Both the probe and the fluorophore were investigated under one- and two-photon excitation modes. The fluorescence intensity of...

HClO plays crucial roles in a great body of biological and pathological processes. Recent studies have revealed that the generation of HClO has close links with wound healing process. It’s thus meaningful to develop a reliable method for monitoring HClO in wound tissues. Toward this purpose, we herein report a rationally designed quinolone-based ra...

Two-photon (TP) fluorescent probes are potential candidates for NIR imaging which holds great promise in biological researches. However, currently most TP probes emit at wavelength <600 nm, which impedes their practical applications. In this work, we explored the TP properties of a silicon-rhodamine (SiR) derivative, and hence developed the first S...

In situ fluorescence imaging of nitric oxide (NO) is a powerful tool for studying the critical roles of NO in biological events. However, selective imaging of NO is still a challenge because most currently available fluorescent probes rely on o-phenylenediamine (OPD) recognition site which reacts with both NO and other abundant reactive carbonyl sp...

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a kind of gaseous signalling molecule that plays pivotal role in various biological processes. So far, it is still a challenge to develop convenient and reliable methods for H2S detection in lysosomes. Herein, we developed a novel ratiometric two-photon fluorescent probe LR-H2S for imaging H2S in lysosomes. Upon the additi...

The designed two-photon dye with a β-diketone moiety can undergo a keto-enol equilibrium and thus impart ultrahigh polarity sensitivity. The enol form, as the main component in aprotic environments with a long conjugated chain, displays much stronger two-photon fluorescence, while the keto form in protic environments with negligible fluorescence sh...

As a pivotal signalling molecule involved in various physiological and pathological processes, nitric oxide (NO) has motivated increasing interest in the last few decades. Although a considerable number of fluorescent probes have been developed for NO imaging, the in situ tracking of this gas molecule in biological events remains a big challenge, m...