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.