A New Ratiometric Fluorescent Probe Based on BODIPY for Highly Selective Detection of Hydrogen Sulfide

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) as small molecular signal messenger plays key functions in numerous biological processes. The imaging detection of intracellular hydrogen sulfide is of great significance. In this work, a ratiometric fluorescent probe BH based on an asymmetric BODIPY dye for detection of H₂S was designed and synthesized. After the interaction with hydrogen sulfide, probe display colorimetric and ratiometric fluorescence response, with its maximum emission fluorescence wavelength red-shifted from 542 nm to 594 nm, which is attributed to the sequential nucleophilic reaction of H₂S leading to enhanced molecular conjugation after ring formation of the BODIPY skeleton. A special response mechanism has been fully investigated by NMR titration and MS, so that the probe has excellent detection selectivity. Furthermore, probe BH has low cytotoxicity and fluorescence imaging experiments indicate that it can be used to monitor hydrogen sulfide in living cells.