Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been considered as the third biologically gaseous messenger (gasotransmitter) after nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO). Fluorescent detection of H2S in living cells is very important to human health because it has been found that the abnormal levels of H2S in human body can cause Alzheimer’s disease, cancers and diabetes. Herein, we develop a cyclodextrin-based metal-organic nanotube, CD-MONT-2, possessing a {Pb14} metallamacrocycle for efficient detection of H2S. CD-MONT-2′ (the guest-free form of CD-MONT-2) exhibits turn-on detection of H2S with high selectivity and moderate sensitivity when the material was dissolved in DMSO solution. Significantly, CD-MONT-2′ can act as a fluorescent turn-on probe for highly selective detection of H2S in living cells. The sensing mechanism in the present work is based on the coordination of H2S as the auxochromic group to the central Pb(II) ion to enhance the fluorescence intensity, which is studied for the first time.

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