title: High-sensitivity naphthalene-based two-photon fluorescent probe suitable for direct bioimaging of H2S in living cells.
abstract: H2S is the third endogenously generated gaseous signaling compound and has also been known to involve a variety of physiological processes. To better understand its physiological and pathological functions, efficient methods for monitoring of H2S in living systems are desired. Although quite a few one photon fluorescence probes have been reported for H2S, two-photon (TP) probes are more favorable for intracellular imaging. In this work, by employing a donor-π-acceptor-structured naphthalene derivative as the two-photon fluorophore and an azide group as the recognition unit, we reported a new two-photon bioimaging probe 6-(benzo[d]thiazol-2'-yl)-2-azidonaphthalene (NHS1) for H2S with improved sensitivity. The probe shows very low background fluorescence in the absence of H2S. In the presence of H2S, however, a significant enhancement for both one photon and TP excited fluorescence were observed, resulting in a high sensitivity to H2S in aqueous solutions with a detection limit of 20 nM observed, much lower than the previously reported TP probe. The probe also exhibits a wide linear response concentration range (0-5 μM) to H2S with high selectivity. All these features are favorable for direct monitoring of H2S in complex biological samples. It was then applied for direct TP imaging of H2S in living cells with satisfactory sensitivity, demonstrating its value of practical application in biological systems.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Guo-Jiang
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Tian-Tian
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Xu-Xiang
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shuang-yan
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Huan
authors.forename: Dan-Qing
authors.initials: DQ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiao-Bing
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Weihong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Guo-Li
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Ru-Qin
authors.initials: RQ
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide / Q000032:analysis*; D057230:Limit of Detection; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009281:Naphthalenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D017785:Photons; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D009281:Naphthalenes; C031721:naphthalene; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide