A red emitting fluorescent probe for sensitively monitoring hydrogen polysulfides in living cells and zebrafish

Abstract

Hydrogen polysulfides (H2Sn, n ≥ 2) is an important reactive sulfur species, which has been demonstrated to be more effective than H2S in some biological events. However, the studies focused on the chemical biology of H2Sn are still at the initial stage. One critical barrier is the lack of effective tools for H2Sn monitoring in biosystems. Here, we synthesized a red fluorescence probe PZC-Sn to detect H2Sn, which shows high sensitivity, good selectivity and low cytotoxicity. The red emission and large Stokes shift of PZC-Sn facilitate the in vivo application, which was demonstrated by imaging exogenous and endogenous H2Sn in living RAW 264.7 cells and zebrafish. The results imply that PZC-Sn can be further used as a promising fluorescence probe in the study of H2Sn-realted biological process.