• At present, peroxynitrite probes with green fluorescent color are available, however, the existing probes exhibit limited intracellular retention in cell assays.
• Peroxynitrite probes with other fluorescent colors or with the ability to localize in the desired intracellular compartment are rare.
• Long-wavelength fluorogenic probes, such as yellow, red, far-red, and near-infrared (NIR) fluorogenic probes, are more attractive and advantageous for providing reliable imaging in biological samples, since they effectively avoid the interference from the auto-fluorescence of cells in the green region and possess longer excitation/emission wavelengths with deeper penetration into cells and tissues.
• Therefore, new generations of fluorescent probes with much more desirable and reliable detection and imaging of peroxynitrite are needed.

• This invention presents five groups of fluorogenic compounds which exhibit excellent sensitivity and selectivity for peroxynitrile over a wide range of oxidants and reductants in the mitochondria of living cells. That is, Green fluorogenic compounds, Yellow fluorogenic compounds, Red fluorogenic compounds, Far-red fluorogenic compounds and Mitochondria targeting fluorogenic compounds.
• The fluorogenic compounds and probes of the invention utilize an N-dearylation reaction between the diarylamine-caged fluorogenic compounds with peroxynitrite to achieve high sensitivity and selectivity for detecting peroxynitrite in aqueous solution over other reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS).

Advantages

• Can be used to measure the amount of peroxynitrite in both chemical and biological samples such as cells and tissues in living organisms.
• Serve as powerful tools for interrogating the physiological and pathological roles of cellular peroxynitrite.

• Granted patent in US – No.9,651,528  and China- No. ZL 201380007241.2 . 
• Application pending in Europe.