Highly selective and effective mercury( ii ) fluorescent sensors

• Published in: New journal of chemistry 2015-01, Vol.39 (2), p.843-848
• Main Authors: Hu, JingHan, Li, JianBin, Qi, Jing, Chen, JuanJuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1144-0546; 1369-9261
• DOI: 10.1039/C4NJ01147C

A novel mercury non-sulfur and simple fluorescent chemosensor L based on the benzimidazole group and quinoline group as the fluorescence signal group has been designed and synthesized. The receptor could instantly detect the Hg 2+ cation over other cations such as Fe 3+ , Ag + , Ca 2+ , Cu 2+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ , Cd 2+ , Pb 2+ , Zn 2+ , Cr 3+ , and Mg 2+ by fluorescence spectroscopy changes in H 2 O/DMSO (1 : 9, v/v) solution with specific selectivity and high sensitivity. The fluorescence color of the solution containing sensor L showed a remarkable change from blue to colorless only after the addition of Hg 2+ in aqueous media while other cations did not cause obvious color changes. Moreover, further study demonstrates that the detection limit on the fluorescence response of the sensor to Hg 2+ is down to 9.56 × 10 −9 M, which is far lower than the maximum level for mercury of 0.01 M in drinking water, from EPA guidelines. Test strips based on L were fabricated, which could act as convenient and efficient Hg 2+ test kits. Thus, the probe should have potential applications in an aqueous environment for the monitoring of mercury.