A reaction-based and highly selective fluorescent probe for hydrogen sulfide

Based on the thiolysis of 7-nitro-1,2,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD) amine, a novel fluorescent probe for hydrogen sulfide was designed and synthesized, which contains 5 (6)-carboxy-rhodamine as fluorophore and NBD as hydrogen sulfide reaction group. The probe is non-fluorescent, and could selectively detect hydrogen sulfide with a big fluorescence enhancement of 160-fold and a low detection limit of 4.80 × 10−8 mol/L. Furthermore, coupled with its good biocompatibility, the probe has been used for fluorescent bioimaging of H2S in living cells.