Highly sensitive and selective coumarin probe for hydrogen sulfide imaging in living cells

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is the third endogenous gasotransmitter, following nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO). Efficient methods for selective monitoring H₂S in biological systems are significant. In this study, we designed and synthesized a new coumarin-based probe DNPOCA for H₂S with colorimetric and fluorescent dual signaling. In this probe, 7-hydroxycoumarin-4-acetic acid methyl ester was employed as a fluorophore and a dinitrophenyl (DNP) ether moiety was used as the recognition unit. The H₂S probe exhibited excellent selectivity and high sensitivity with a detection limit as low as 49.7 nM. The cytotoxicity assay showed that DNPOCA possessed a low effect on cell viability. Furthermore, DNPOCA could be successfully applied for H₂S imaging in living cells.