A highly selective and sensitive fluorescent probe based on the chromone fluorophore for imaging hydrogen sulfide in living cells†
Abstract
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an important biological molecule that plays a crucial role in physiological and pathological processes, and it is closely related with several diseases including cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, detecting the level of H2S in biological systems is significant to understand and treat these diseases. Although many fluorescent probes have been developed to monitor different H2S in biosystems, there is still a lack of fluorescent probes that can detect H2S in acidic environments for understanding its roles in cancer tissues. In this work, we developed a novel fluorescent probe for detection of H2S based on the chromone fluorophore. This probe responds well to H2S under acidic conditions, demonstrates high selectivity, sensitivity and a large Stokes shift of 150 nm, and can be applied in imaging of H2S in living cells.