Detection of toxic hydrazine and harmful strong acidity is of great importance for survival of organisms. In the present paper, a new thiomorpholine substituted malonyl-coumarin dye was synthesized for discriminative detection of hydrazine and strong acidity. At pH 7.4, the fluorescence at 560 nm decreased and that at 496 nm increased upon reaction with hydrazine, which was used for on-site detection of hydrazine vapor and endogenous hydrazine in live cells. From pH 2.0 to 1.2, the fluorescence at 563 nm increased greatly, which could be ascribed to the PET process from thiomorpholine to malonyl-coumarin. The probe was desirable for discriminative detection of toxic hydrazine and strong acidity.
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