Coumarin-based fluorescent probes for H2S detection.

Although hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been known as a toxic gas with unpleasant rotten egg smell, the correlation between H2S and physiological processes has attracted scientists to develop brand new methods to monitor such a gaseous molecule in vitro and in vivo. Herein, we described a couple of coumarin-based fluorescent probes (1a and 1b) that can be activated by reduction of azide to amine in the presence of H2S. It should be emphasized that probe 1b demonstrated high selectivity and sensitivity for H2S over other relevant reactive sulfur species in vitro, as well as identified exogenous H2S in living cells.