Construction of a turn-on probe for fast detection of H2S in living cells based on a novel H2S trap group with an electron rich dyeElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5ra21041k

A turn-on probe ( ANR ) for fast detection of H 2 S is constructed based on a 2-(azidomethyl)-4-nitrobenzoate moiety as a trap group. This group is very effective for the design of H 2 S probes especially with electron rich dyes. The potential biological applications of ANR were proved by employing it for fluorescence imaging of H 2 S in living cells. A fluorescent probe ANR based on a novel H 2 S trap group was synthesized for discriminating detection of H 2 S in living cells.