The invention discloses a fluorescent compound of 2-(imidazo[1, 2-a] pyridine-2-yl) phenyl acrylate, which can be used for specifically detecting cysteine in an organism and selectively reacting withcysteine. The fluorescent compound has the advantages of simple preparation process, easily available raw materials, low cost, good cell membrane permeability and low cytotoxicity, can enter living cells and rapidly subjected to a Michael addition reaction with intracellular cysteine so as to produce strong fluorescence which can be distinguished by naked eyes; the ultraviolet absorption and fluorescence spectrophotometry analysis shows that the fluorescent compound has excellent selectivity on cysteine under various interferents and has very strong anti-interference capability on common biomolecules; the compound is stable in structure and can be stored for a long time; the fluorescent probe not only can selectively recognize intracellular cysteine, but also can quantitatively detect cysteine with high sensitivity in the growth environment of various living cells, and is applied to living cell and zebra fish imaging.
Fluorescent compound for cysteine specificity detection and preparation method thereof