FRET spectral unmixing: a ratiometric fluorescent nanoprobe for hypochloriteElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Synthesis; experimental details; characterization of new compounds, and experiments using living cells. See DOI: 10.1039/c2cc17617c

A specific ratiometric nanoprobe for hypochlorite was constructed as a paradigm of FRET spectral unmixing. The separation of FRET pairs' emissions reaches 175 nm, which ensures that the FRET probing is more accurate. This new nanoprobe shows high selectivity and potential in biological systems. A new spectral unmixing approach was proposed for FRET probes' design. And a paradigm was provided by developing a ratiometric fluorescence nanoprobe based on a large Stokes shift cyanine dye.