Discovery of a triphenylamine-benzofuran derivative as fluorescent probe for hydrogen polysulfide in tea samples

In this work, a novel triphenylamine-benzofuran derived fluorescent probe, TBF-SS, was developed for detecting hydrogen polysulfide in tea samples and intracellular imaging. TBF-SS showed the practical advantages including high sensitivity (LOD = 0.01 μM), high selectivity, rapid response (within 15 min), and steadiness in various environmental conditions. The detecting system was steady within pH range of 6.0-11.0 and temperature range of 20-55 °C. The probe TBF-SS could guarantee the stable detection of H₂S_n for 7 d in storage of either solid or solution. In particular, in the application of various tea samples with different brewing times and testing temperatures, the recovery percentages varied in the range of 95.22 % to 105.0 %. Therefore accurate monitoring of H₂S_n could be achieved by using the probe TBF-SS. In addition, TBF-SS could monitor the exogenous level, the β-lapachone-induced generation and the tea-sample-treated introduction of H₂S_n in living MCF-7 cells. This work might inspire the improvement of the serviceability of fluorescent implements.