HS^- facilitated sulfur pyran realizing hydrogen sulfide detection and imaging in HepG2 cells and chlorella

The new carbazole-based fluorescent probe CA-1 was designed and synthesized for the high selective detection of H₂S based on HS^- facilitated sulfur pyran resulting in UV-Vis and fluorescent spectra changes. At the same time, the probe showed good sensitivity to the detection of H₂S with a low detection limit of 0.16 μM. The detection process can be monitored by naked eye: with the addition of H₂S, the probe system changed from yellow to pink. Importantly, the probe could be applied in monitoring H₂S in HepG2 cells and Chlorella. These results indicate that CA-1 can be used as a promising fluorescent probe for the detection of H₂S in situ.