ANear-infraredfluorescent probe for sensitive detection and imaging of sulfane sulfur inliving cells and in vivo

Xiaoyue Han【韩潇玥】,^a,cXinyu Song【宋新宇】,^aBowei Li【李博伟】,^a Fabiao Yu【于法标】,^a,b* and Lingxin Chen【陈令新】^a,b*

Sulfane sulfur refers toionized sulfur that is reversibly attached to other sulfur atoms in the form of6-valence electrons (S⁰). Some sulfanesulfur possesses stronger nucleophilicity and reducibility thanhydrogen sulfide in a series of physiological reactions, which makes sulfidesulfur may be the actual signal molecule in cells. Herein, we design andsynthesize a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe BD-diSH for sensitivedetection and imaging of sulfane sulfur in living cells and in vivo. The probe BD-diSH is composedof two moieties: the fluorophore azo-BODIPYand the sulfane sulfur recognition unit 2-mercapto benzoate. BD-diSH displayshigh sensitivity and selectivity towards sulfane sulfur. The mercapto group(–SH) of 2-mercapto benzoic acid can nucleophilicly capture the sulfur atom ofthiosulfoxide tautomers in sulfane sulfur to form –SSH. The group –SSH willsoon induce intramolecular cyclization reaction and release the azo-BODIPY fluorophore to emit NIRfluorescence. The probe BD-diSH has been successfully applied to detect andimage sulfane sulfur in cytoplasm of the living cells. The results illustratethat the endogenous and exogenous sulfane sulfur level changes depending ondifferent cell lines. BD-diSH is also capable of imaging the level changes ofsulfane sulfur in mice. The above applications make our new probe a potenti

The article was first published on 30 Jan 2018
Biomater. Sci., 2018, Accepted Manuscript
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C7BM00951H