Issue 12, 2020

FRET-based fluorescent ratiometric probes for the rapid detection of endogenous hydrogen sulphide in living cells

Abstract

Real-time monitoring of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) level change is of crucial importance for the study of its complicated roles in physiology. Herein, we developed a FRET strategy for designing ratiometric fluorescent H2S sensors. A coumarin-derived merocyanine fluorophore was selected as the acceptor, and two green-light-emission fluorophores were introduced as donors. The sensing mechanism was based on tuning the FRET efficiency, and the free sensors exhibited strong near-infrared emission at 665 nm due to the FRET process. The nucleophilic addition of HS− to the imide carbon disrupts the large conjugation system of merocyanine, which induces a dramatic loss of its absorption; thus, the FRET process gets blocked, and the green emission is increased. In the aqueous solution, both the probes, NBD-CMC and Nap-CMC, showed ratiometric H2S sensing behaviour, fast response, and high selectivity and sensitivity. Moreover, probe NBD-CMC was successfully applied to monitor the fluctuation of exogenously and endogenously generated H2S in HepG-2 cells.

Graphical abstract: FRET-based fluorescent ratiometric probes for the rapid detection of endogenous hydrogen sulphide in living cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Mar 2020
Accepted
02 May 2020
First published
04 May 2020

Analyst, 2020,145, 4233-4238

FRET-based fluorescent ratiometric probes for the rapid detection of endogenous hydrogen sulphide in living cells

Y. Zhang, Y. Chen, Y. Bai, X. Xue, W. He and Z. Guo, Analyst, 2020, 145, 4233 DOI: 10.1039/D0AN00531B

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