A ‘naked-eye’ ratiometric and NIR fluorescent detection for hydrogen sulphide with quick response and high selectivity for and its bioimaging

Abstract

Recently, the fluorescence detection of H2S in biological systems has attracted the attention of many analytical chemists. However, most of H2S probes showed shorter fluorescence emission (<600 nm) with fluorescence intensity change induced by H2S, which has some disadvantages of shallower tissue penetration and bigger autofluorescence interference. Herein, we have rationally designed a near-infrared and ratiometric fluorescent probe (YC−1) for the detection of H2S based on isophorone. The detection process can be monitored by naked-eye. Addition of H2S, YC−1 showed that the emission ratios of fluorescence intensity at 540 and 660 nm (I540/I660) with an obvious enhancement from 0.05 to 13.3. Besides, the color of YC−1 changes from pink to yellow. As a probe for H2S, YC−1 exhibited better selectivity, better sensitivity and lower detection limits (0.17 μM). Moreover, YC−1 showed lower toxicity to HepG−2 cells and can be used for cell imaging.