A hemicyanidin-based NIR fluorescent probe for detection of H2S and imaging study in cells and mice.

Abstract

The selective detection of hydrogen sulfide in physiological and pathological processes has gained substantial attention in recent years. However, the real-time detection of hydrogen sulfide remains an elusive goal. In this work, a new type of hemicyanidin-based fluorescent "turn-on" probe NTR-HS (Ex = 680nm, Em = 760nm) was developed to detected H2S in a very short time (3min).Thefluorescence quantum yield is 0.15 and accompanied with a noticeable color change from violet to bluethatcan be used to detect H2S in the range 1.04 × 10-7-4 × 10-5Mwith a limit of detection of 1.04 x 10-7 M. TheNTR-HS probewas also used for imaging of endogenous hydrogen sulfide and mitochondrial localization in HCT116 and HeLa cells. The detection mechanism was studied through fluorescence, UV-Vis, NMR, and mass analysis. Notably, the probe was successfully used to imaging H2S in mice and locating hydrogen sulfide in the large intestine of mice.