A novel near-infrared fluorescence probe for hydrogen sulfide detection and application in cell and mice imaging.

• A novel NIR colorimetric-fluorescence probe was prepared for detection of hydrogen sulfide. • The probe showed rapid, specific and sensitive detection of hydrogen sulfide with a large Stokes shift. • The probe was capable of imaging hydrogen sulfide in living cells and mice. We presented here a novel near-infrared fluorescent probe based on 2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole -dicyanoisophorone as fluorophore and 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonyl moiety as detection functionalized group for the discrimination of hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S). Probe L exhibited good specificity and sensitivity "turn on" response at 720 nm with a large Stokes shift (155 nm), rapid response (< 60 s) and low detection limit (3.15 × 10−7 M), which also could be identified by the naked eyes. Moreover, probe L was successfully used to image exogenous/endogenous H 2 S in cells and mice, which demonstrated its potential applications in living systems. A novel fluorescein based on 2-(benzo[ d ]thiazol-2-yl)phenol-dicyanoisophorone probe was constructed for the discrimination of hydrogen sulfide. The probe was applied for the rapid, sensitive, large Stokes shift, colorimetric and large near-infrared fluorometric determination of H 2 S, based on the displacement approach. The low cytotoxicity and excellent imaging performance was successfully applied for mitochondrial localization in living cells and endogenous and exogenous H 2 S detection in vivo. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]