Water-Dispersible Rhodamine B Hydrazide Loaded TiO2 Nanoparticles for "Turn On" Fluorimetric Detection and Imaging of Orthosilicic Acid Accumulation In-Vitro in Nephrotoxic Kidney Cells.

Silica (SiO2) is the inevitable form of silicon owing to its high affinity for oxygen, existing as a geogenic element perpetrating multifarious health problems when bioavailable via anthropogenic activities. The hydrated form of silica viz. orthosilicic acid (H4SiO4) excessively displays grave toxicity, attributed to prolonged exposure and incessant H+ ions generating capacity inflicting pulmonary toxicity and renal toxicity silica. The diverse deleterious potency of silica highlights the desirability of selective and sensitive detection of toxic species (mainly orthosilicic acid) bioaccumulation in affected living human cells. In this paper we have reported, the design of water-dispersible turn-on fluorimetric sensing material for the detection of orthosilicic acid in the aqueous phase and in live cells. The sensing material was prepared by adsorbing a suitable rhodamine derivative (i.e., Rhodamine B hydrazide (Rh1)) on water dispersible TiO2 nanoparticles. The function of the sensing system, which is composed of Rh1 and TiO2 (Rh1@TiO2), is accredited to H+ ion (from orthosilicic acid) induced spirolactam ring-opening of the rhodamine derivative generating orange fluorescence and bright pink colouration. The sensing system was efficiently utilized for fluorimetric detection and imaging of orthosilicic acid accumulation in-vitro in human kidney cells (HK cells). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this sensing system (Rh1@TiO2) is reported for detection of toxic silica species accumulation in-vitro in human kidney cells. The advantages, such as good water dispersibility, the absence of organic solvents during fluorimetric studies, quick turn-on type signal transduction, low-level imaging, which are offered by the synthesized sensing material (Rh1@TiO2), make it a potential candidate to fabricate medical tool for early identification of silicainduced nephrotoxicity, which can help to reduce the burden and risk of chronic kidney disease development.

Aggregation-Induced Emission-Based Chemodosimeter Approach for Selective Sensing and Imaging of Hg(II) and Methylmercury Species.

Methylmercury (CH3Hg+) is the common form of organic mercury and is more toxic than its inorganic or elemental forms. Mercury is emanated in the course of various natural events and human activities and converts to methylmercury by anaerobic organisms. CH3Hg+ are ingested by fish and subsequently bioaccumulated in their tissue and, eventually, enter the human diet, causing serious health issues. Therefore, selective and sensitive detection of bioaccumulated CH3Hg+ in fish samples is essential. Herein, the development of a simple, highly sensitive and selective aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-based turn-on probe for both inorganic mercury ions and organicmercury species is reported. The probe's function is based on mercury ion-promoted transmetalation reaction of aryl boronic acid. The probe, a tetraphenylethylene (TPE)-monoboronic acid (1), was successfully utilized for AIE-based fluorescence imaging study on methylmercury-contaminated live cells and zebrafish for the first time. Both Hg(II) and CH3Hg+ ensued a fast transmetalation of TPE-boronic acid causing drastic reduction in the solubility of the resulting product (TPE-HgCl/TPE-HgMe) in the working solvent system. At the dispersed phase, the aggregated form of TPE-mercury ions recovers planarity because of restricted rotational freedom promoting aggregation-induced emission. Simple design, cost-effective synthesis, high selectivity, inexpensive instrumentation, fast signal transduction, and low limit of detection (0.12 ppm) are some of the key merits of this analytical tool.