Perylenequinone-based "turn on" fluorescent probe for hydrogen sulfide with high sensitivity in living cells

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is a kind of gaseous signal molecule in many physiological processes. In order to detect H₂S, a novel "turn on" fluorescent probe 6,12-dihydroxyperylene-1,7-dione (DPD) was designed and synthesized. The probe DPD is fluorescence silence, while the addition of H₂S induces an obvious green fluorescence with an obvious color change from dark blue to yellow-green. The probe shows excellent selectivity, fast response (2.5min) and linear curve (0-90μM) in wide effective pH range (4-10). Competition experiments are also revealed in corresponding studies and the detection limit is 3.6μM. The response mechanism is proved to be the reduction of the probe by H₂S, which is confirmed by ¹H NMR. Furthermore, through the fluorescence turn-on signal toward H₂S in Hela cells, probe DPD was successfully applied to monitor H₂S in living Hela cells.