A novel imidazo[1,5-α]pyridine-based fluorescent probe with a large Stokes shift for imaging hydrogen sulfide

摘要

Graphical abstractDisplay OmittedHighlights•An imidazo[1,5-α]pyridine-based fluorescence probe has been successfully developed for highly selective, sensitive and rapid detection of hydrogen sulfide.•The probe displayed a large Stokes shift (193nm) in the detection of hydrogen sulfide.•The successful detection of intracellular hydrogen sulfide was demonstrated in living A549 cells.AbstractAn imidazo[1,5-α]pyridine-based fluorescence probeNIPY-DNPwith a large Stokes shift (193nm) has been successfully developed for highly selective, sensitive and rapid detection of H2S. The selective deprotection of 2,4-dinitrophenyl ether group ofNIPY-DNPby H2S led to a dramatic fluorescent enhancement (273-fold) at 505nm within 5min in PBS buffer solution. The sensing mechanism is proposed on the basis of the thiolysis reaction by H2S, which has been confirmed by HPLC and HRMS. The detection limit is 0.36μM, which is superior to the other reported H2S probes. Additionally, cell imaging studies demonstrated thatNIPY-DNPcould be used to visualize H2S in living cells.