A novel dansyl sulfonamide-based fluorescence probe DH1 ［(E)-5-(dimethylamino)-N-(4-(2-(quinolin-2-ylmethylene)hydrazinecarbonyl)phenyl)aphthalene-1-sulfonamide］ was synthesized for detection of Zn2+. Spectral properties of DH1 such as UV-Vis, fluorescence spectra and ESI-MS for recognition of Zn2+ were studied. Spectrophotometric titration and ESI-MS spectra indicate the formation of a 1∶1 complex of Zn2+ with DH1. The results show that DH1 has high quantum yield of 0.53 and low the detection limit of 1.0×10－7 mol·L-1 for detection of Zn2+ in acetonitrile/water(9∶1, volume ratio). Moreover, no fluorescence intensity changes were observed in the presence of other common metal ions such as K+, Li+, Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cr3+, Mn2+, Ni2+, Pb2+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Co2+, Fe2+ and Hg2+, indicating that DH1 has excellent selectivity and high sensitivity for detection of Zn2+.