A highly selective fluorescent probe based on coumarin for the imaging of N₂H₄ in living cells

A turn-on fluorescence probe for highly sensitive and selective detection of N₂H₄ was developed based on hydrazine-triggered a substitution- cyclization-elimination cascade. Upon the treatment with N₂H₄, probe 1, 4-methyl-coumarin-7-yl bromobutanoate, displayed a remarkable fluorescence enhancement (25-fold) with a maximum at 450nm. This probe can quantitatively detect N₂H₄ with a extremely low detection limit as 7×10^-8M. Moreover, cell imaging experiments have indicated that probe 1 has potential ability to detect and image N₂H₄ in biological systems.