Issue 20, 2022

An NBD tertiary amine is a fluorescent quencher and/or a weak green-light fluorophore in H2S-specific probes

Abstract

The thiolysis of NBD piperazinyl amine (NBD-PZ) is highly selective for H2S over GSH and has been widely used for the development of many H2S fluorescent probes. Whether the NBD amine in H2S-specific probes could be a fluorescent quencher should be further clarified, because NBD amines have been used as environment-sensitive fluorophores for many years. Here, we compared the properties of NBD-based secondary and tertiary amines under the same conditions. For example, the emission of NBD-N(Et)2 is much smaller in water and less responsive to changes in polarity than that of NBD-NHEt. The emission of NBD-PZ-TPP is also smaller than that of NBD-NH-TPP both in aqueous buffer and in live cells. In addition, confocal bioimaging signals of NBD-PZ-TPP with excitation at 405 nm and 454 nm are much weaker than that at 488 nm. Based on these results as well as the previous work on NBD-based probes, we discuss and summarize the design strategies and sensing mechanisms for different NBD-based H2S probes. Moreover, NBD-PZ-TPP may be a useful tool for reaction with and imaging of mitochondrial H2S in live cells. This work should be useful for clarification of the roles of NBD in H2S-specific fluorescent probes as well as for facilitating the development of future NBD-based probes.

Graphical abstract: An NBD tertiary amine is a fluorescent quencher and/or a weak green-light fluorophore in H2S-specific probes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 Mar 2022
Accepted
22 Apr 2022
First published
22 Apr 2022

Org. Biomol. Chem., 2022,20, 4128-4134

An NBD tertiary amine is a fluorescent quencher and/or a weak green-light fluorophore in H2S-specific probes

R. Chen, H. Ye, T. Fang, S. Liu, L. Yi and L. Cheng, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2022, 20, 4128 DOI: 10.1039/D2OB00442A

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