Modulation of fluorescence sensing properties of coumarin-based fluorescent probe for H2S and its application in cell imaging

Abstract A coumarin-based turn on probe, named 3-((E)-3-(1H-indol-3-yl)acryloyl)-2H-chromen-2-one( IAC ) was designed and synthesized for the detection of H 2 S in aqueous medium. IAC showed no obvious red fluorescence in Tris-HCl(pH = 7.2, 60% DMF), a 28.2-fold fluorescence enhancement was found when 40 equiv. H 2 S was added. Other analytes such as anions, metal ions and GSH, Cys, Gly did no significant fluorescence enhancement at 580 nm to IAC . The red fluorescence enhancement mechanism between IAC and H 2 S was considered by DFT and ESI-MS. Overall, IAC was successfully applied in cell imaging.