Recent advances of small-molecule fluorescent probes for detecting biological hydrogen sulfide

Abstract

H₂S is well-known as a colorless, acidic gas, with a notoriously rotten-egg smell. It was recently revealed that H₂S is also an endogenous signaling molecule that has important biological functions, however, most of its physiology and pathology remains elusive. Therefore, the enthusiasm for H₂S research remains. Fluorescence imaging technology is an important tool for H₂S biology research. The development of fluorescence imaging technology has realized the study of H₂S in subcellular organelles, facilitated by the development of fluorescent probes. The probes reviewed in this paper were categorized according to their chemical mechanism of sensing and were divided into three groups: H₂S reducibility-based probes, H₂S nucleophilicity-based probes, and metal sulfide precipitation-based probes. The structure of the probes, their sensing mechanism, and imaging results have been discussed in detail. Moreover, we also introduced some probes for hydrogen polysulfides.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

hydrogen sulfide / fluorescent probe / reducibility / nucleophilicity / copper sulfide precipitate / hydrogen polysulfides

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2019M652053).

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