A Highly Selective Fluorescent Probe for Imaging Hydrogen Sulfide in Living HeLa Cells.

As an important endogenous gasotransmitter, hydrogen sulfide (HS) has been implicated with a variety of biological processes and has attracted more and more attention for its key role in a wide range of pathological processes. However, lacking tools for HS-specific in situ detection, the changes of endogenous HS levels in the pathological progression of diseases are still unclear. In this work, a turn-on fluorescent probe (BF-DBS) has been designed and synthesized by two-step reactions using 4-diethylaminosalicylaldehyde and 1,4-dimethylpyridinium iodide as raw materials. Probe BF-DBS displays high selectivity and sensitivity to HS with a large Stokes shift and good anti-interference ability. The practical application of probe BF-DBS to detect endogenous HS was evaluated in living HeLa cells.