A simple and reversible fluorescent probe bearing 7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole and a selenomorpholine fragment was designed and synthesized. The probe showed highly selective, sensitive and fast (<10 s) recognition to hypochlorite in aqueous solutions. The relative results demonstrated that the linear response range of the probe was between 5.0 × 10−8 M and 1.2 × 10−4 M, with a low detection limit of 3.3 nM (S/N = 3). The probe was capable of monitoring hypochlorite reversibly in the presence of glutathione. In addition, the biological applications in living cells have been described.
