A ratiometric fluorescent probe for imaging enzyme dependent hydrogen sulfide variation in the mitochondria and in living mice.

Developing a ratiometric H2S fluorescent probe with fast response is of great importance for studying the H2S physiology. Herein, two hemicyanine-based H2S probes were constructed; the one with a propanoic acid group (CouPa) showed poor sensitivity while the other one with the N,N-diethylpropionamide moiety (CouDE) exhibited distinctly improved performance. CouDE showed the ability to detect mitochondrial H2S level fluctuation, which was triggered by alteration of CBS enzyme activity. Moreover, endogenous H2S change in solid tumours was monitored using CouDE.