A fluorescence turn-on probe for hydrogen sulfide and biothiols based on PET & TICT and its imaging in HeLa cells.

Abstract

In this paper, a photoinduced electron transfer (PET)& twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT)-based fluorescent probe (1) for detecting biothiols (GSH/Cys/Hcy) and hydrogen sulfide with fluorescence turn on was developed. The probe could recognize hydrogen sulfide over primary ions and selectively detect GSH/Cys/Hcy over other amino acids with fluorescence turn-on (an ESIPT process). H2S can be distinguished from GSH/Cys/Hcy with wavelength shift by UV-Vis spectra. In addition, detection limits for H2S/GSH/Cys/Hcy of probe 1 were 1.42μM (0-100μM), 0.13μM (0-40μM), 0.27 (0-30μM), 0.22μM (0-40μM), respectively. The proposed thiolysis of the 2,4-dinitrochlorophenyl ether reaction in identification process was verified by the characteristic peak in 1H NMR and HRMS spectra. Finally, the biological imaging experiments and low cytotoxicity investigations in HeLa cells demonstrated that probe 1 could provide a promising method for the determination of H2S and biothiols in aqueous solution and living cells.