title: Toward a selective, sensitive, fast-responsive, and biocompatible two-photon probe for hydrogen sulfide in live cells.
abstract: Hydrogen sulfide has emerged as an exciting endogenous gasotransmitter in addition to nitric oxide and carbon dioxide. Noninvasive detection methods for hydrogen sulfide thus become indispensable tools for studying its diverse roles in biological systems. Accordingly, fluorescent probes for hydrogen sulfide have received great attention in recent years. A practically useful fluorescent probe for bioimaging of hydrogen sulfide should be selective, sensitive, fast-responsive, biocompatible, observable in the biological optical window, and capable of deep-tissue imaging. These sensing properties, however, are extremely difficult to achieve at the same time. Disclosed here is the two-photon fluorescent probe that meets all of these criteria. The probe belongs to a Michael acceptor system, which raised a serious selectivity issue over the competing biothiols such as cysteine and glutathione. We have addressed the selectivity issue by optimizing the electronic and steric interactions between biothiols and the probe, in addition to achieving very high sensitivity, fast-response, and biocompatibility. Also, the sensing mechanism suggested in the literature was revised. The probe thus enables us to image the endogenously produced hydrogen sulfide with negligible interference from other biothiols in live cells. The excellent sensing properties of the probe combined with its capability of bioimaging thus make it a practically useful tool for further studying biological roles of hydrogen sulfide.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Center for Electro-Photo Behaviors in Advanced Molecular Systems, POSTECH , 77 Cheongam-Ro, Nam-Gu, Pohang, Republic of Korea 790-784.
authors.forename: Subhankar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singha
authors.forename: Dokyoung
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyunsoo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Taejun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ki Hean
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Youn Ho
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Junyang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Eunseok
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Sang-Joon
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kyo Han
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Ahn
mesh_terms: D001547:Benzaldehydes / Q000737:chemistry*; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D003545:Cysteine / Q000032:analysis*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D005978:Glutathione / Q000032:analysis*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide / Q000032:analysis*; D061848:Optical Imaging; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D001547:Benzaldehydes; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; D005978:Glutathione; D003545:Cysteine; C032175:benzaldehyde; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide