A hexaphenylbenzene based AIEE active two photon probe for the detection of hydrogen sulfide with tunable self-assembly in aqueous media and application in live cell imaging.

Supramolecular aggregates of hexaphenylbenzene derivative exhibit aggregation induced emission enhancement and modulation of self-assembled architecture from spherical to flower-like assembly in the presence of H2S. Furthermore, probe displays higher photostability, low toxicity and bright green fluorescence in two-photon microscopy (TPM) imaging for the detection of H2S in live HeLa cells.