A Coumarin-Based Reversible Fluorescent Probe for Quantitative Detection and Monitoring of Cellular Glutathione

An "on-off-on" reversible fluorescent probe for reversible response to GSH and H2O2 and determination for GSH was designed and synthesized. Considering the important role of GSH in biological system and commonly applied recognition groups, the C & boxH;C bond in coumarin dye was successfully used as the recognition site. This probe showed fast response (within 5 s) and high sensitivity (12.6 nM) in the recognition process. It could be used not only for quantitative determination of GSH, but also could be used for the fluorescence imaging of GSH in cells. In addition, the probe showed reversible fluorescence response for GSH and H2O2, which could be repeated at least 3 times. The experimental results proved that the probe was successfully modified from coumarin and the probe recognized for GSH with significant results.