A red emission fluorescent probe for hydrogen sulfide and its application in living cells imaging

Hydrogen sulfide has emerged as an important biological messenger and much attention has been paid to the design of fluorescent probes for H2S to meet the requirement of accurate measurement of H2S. In this work, a new red emission fluorescent probe for H2S was developed based on the reduction reaction of azide with H2S to amine with the fluorophore of dicyanomethylenedihydrofuran because of its long excitation and emission wavelength. The probe has a high selectivity for H2S over competitive anions and sulfide-containing analytes. Finally, the probe was applied to sense H2S in living cells.