Fluorescent probes for the detection of hydrogen sulfide in biological systems

Detective work: Three highly sensitive and selective fluorescent probes for the detection of H ₂S have been developed. Two of the probes detect H ₂S by the reduction of an azide moiety to an amine group, which changes the probes into their fluorescent forms and generates a fluorescent signal. In the third method, the fluorescent signal is created by using H ₂S as a nucleophile in a reaction that unmasks fluorescein.