A near-infrared fluorescent probe for hydrogen sulfide in living cells

• A near-infrared fluorescent probe for hydrogen sulfide was synthesized.
• The addition of H2S induced an appearance of emission centered at 655 nm.
• The probe is extremely sensitive to H2S with 354-fold emission enhancement.
• The probe has an excellent selectivity for H2S.
• The probe can sense H2S in living cells.

Fluorescent probes for hydrogen sulfide have received considerable attention because of the biological significance of H2S recognized recently. However, near-infrared fluorescent probes for H2S are still rare. In this work, a new near-infrared fluorescent probe for H2S was developed based on the reduction reaction of azide with H2S to amine based on the fluorophore of dicyanomethylene-4H-chromene because of its long excitation and emission wavelength. The probe has a high selectivity for H2S over competitive anions and sulfide-containing analytes. Finally, the probe was applied to sense H2S in living cells.

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