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

Hydrogen sulfide (H2 S) is a kind of gaseous signal molecule in many physiological processes. In order to detect H2 S, 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 H2 S induces an obvious green fluorescence with an obvious color change from dark blue to yellow-green. The probe shows excellent selectivity, fast response (2.5 min) and linear curve (0-90 μM) in wide effective pH range (4-10). Competition experiments are also revealed in corresponding studies and the detection limit is 3.6 μM. The response mechanism is proved to be the reduction of the probe by H2 S, which is confirmed by 1 H NMR. Furthermore, through the fluorescence turn-on signal toward H2 S in Hela cells, probe DPD was successfully applied to monitor H2 S in living Hela cells.