Optical properties of a newly synthesized fluorescent probe for H2O2, NO and H2O2/NO are investigated by employing time-dependent density functional theory. Three different sets of fluorescence signals are obtained when the probe reacts with H2O2, NO and H2O2/NO. Analysis of molecular orbitals is presented to explore responsive mechanism of the probe for the detected objects, where the fluorescent resonance energy transfer process is for H2O2 (H2O2/NO) and the intramolecular charge transfer process is for NO. Our results provide theoretical explanation of the experimental results, and importantly, suggest possibility of the probe as a two-photon fluorescent sensor. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.