A selective and sensitive phthalimide-based fluorescent probe for hydrogen sulfide with a large Stokes shift

Abstract

A phthalimide-based fluorescent probe for hydrogen sulfide has been developed with high sensitivity and excellent selectivity. Upon treatment with hydrogen sulfide, this probe displays a strong fluorescence enhancement (196-fold) with a large Stokes shift (105 nm). Moreover, the potential application of using this probe in biological systems has been demonstrated by imaging hydrogen sulfide in living cells.