A two-photon fluorescent probe for imaging hydrogen sulfide in living cells

•A two-photon fluorescent probe for hydrogen sulfide was synthesized.•The probe is extremely sensitive to H2S with 37-fold emission enhancement.•The probe has an excellent selectivity for H2S.•The probe can detect H2S in bovine serum.•The probe can image H2S in living cells.

Fluorescent probes for hydrogen sulfide have received considerable attention because of the biological significance of H2S recognized recently. Two-photo microscopy offers advantages of increased penetration depth, localized excitation, and prolonged observation time. However, two-photon fluorescent probes for H2S are still rare. In this work, we introduced a dinitrophenyl ether group into the 4-position of 1,8-naphthalimide, which acts as the H2S reactive site, to efficiently yield compound NI–NHS as a two-photo fluorescent probe for H2S. The probe NI–NHS has a high selectivity for H2S over competitive anions and sulfide-containing analytes. This probe exhibits turn-on fluorescence detection of H2S in bovine serum and two-photon fluorescent imaging of H2S in living cells.

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