A NIR fluorescent probe for the detection and visualization of hydrogen sulfide in colorectal cancer cell

Hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) plays a significant role in many pathological and physiological processes in living system. It is of great importance to develop effective fluorescent probes for H 2 S detection with good sensitivity and high selectivity. In this work, we developed a new near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe DBT for H 2 S detection with fluorescence turn-on performance. For probe DBT , triphenylamine combined with BODIPY is used as the fluorophore and 2, 4-dinitrophenylsulfonyl group is acted as the reaction site. The results show that DBT exhibits excellent sensing characters toward H 2 S with rapid response (within 150 s), excellent sensitivity (detection limit of 6.74 nM) and good selectivity. Importantly, this probe is also successfully applied in the fluorescent imaging of endogenous H 2 S in HCT116 cells. The outcomes indicate that the probe DBT is a valuable tool for H 2 S detection in solution and living cells.