A new naphthalimide-based fluorescent probe NPA for detection of nitric oxide (NO) is reported. NPA responds to NO quickly and shows a 25-fold fluorescence enhancement within 10 seconds. To the best of our knowledge, NPA exhibits the fastest detection rate for NO based on o-phenylenediamine receptor. Moreover, NPA can detect NO quantitatively in aqueous solution with an estimated detection limit of 0.87 × 10−8 M.
