Carbon monoxide (CO) is endogenously produced with a range of pharmacological activities. Sensitive and selective detection of CO is critical to studying its biology. Since the first report of a CO fluorescent probe in 2012, more than 100 papers on this topic have appeared. Noteworthy in such work is the widespread use of two commercially available ruthenium–carbonyl complexes (CORM-2 and CORM-3) as CO surrogates. Unfortunately, these two CORMs are chemically very reactive and preferentially release CO₂ but not CO, unless in the presence of a nucleophile. As a result, there are “two tales” of the reported CO probes: those that detect CO and those that detect only the CORM used but not CO. In addition, because of their lack of reliable CO production and fast degradation in an aqueous solution, there is the question of what “detecting CORM-2 or CORM-3” really means in the context of CO research. Additionally, for applying fluorescent CO probes in detecting low levels (often nanomolar) of CO in vivo, fast reaction kinetics is a prerequisite for meaningful results. In this Perspective, we discuss in detail these issues with the understanding of the evolutionary nature of scientific discoveries and the aim of preventing further confusion.

中文翻译：

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一氧化碳荧光传感领域的两个城市的故事：检测 CO 的探针和仅检测化学反应性 CO 供体 （CORM） 而不检测 CO 的探针


一氧化碳 （CO） 是内源性产生的，具有一系列药理活性。一氧化碳的灵敏和选择性检测对于研究其生物学至关重要。自 2012 年首次报道 CO 荧光探针以来，已经出现了 100 多篇关于该主题的论文。在此类工作中值得注意的是广泛使用两种市售的钌-羰基络合物（CORM-2 和 CORM-3）作为 CO 替代物。不幸的是，这两种 CORM 在化学反应性很强，除非存在亲核试剂，否则优先释放 CO₂ 而不是 CO。因此，报道的一氧化碳探针有“两个故事”：一个检测一氧化碳，另一个只检测所使用的 CORM 而不检测一氧化碳。此外，由于它们在水溶液中缺乏可靠的 CO 产生和快速降解，因此在 CO 研究的背景下存在“检测 CORM-2 或 CORM-3”的真正含义的问题。此外，为了应用荧光 CO 探针检测体内低水平（通常是纳摩尔）的 CO，快速反应动力学是获得有意义结果的先决条件。在这个观点中，我们详细讨论了这些问题，并理解了科学发现的进化性质，并防止进一步的混淆。