Thiourea Functionalised Receptor for Selective Detection of Mercury Ions and its Application in Serum Sample

• Published in: Journal of fluorescence 2024-05
• Main Authors: Mohanty, Patitapaban, Dash, Pragyan Parimita, Mishra, Swagatika, Bhaskaran, Renjith, Jali, Bigyan Ranjan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1053-0509; 1573-4994
• DOI: 10.1007/s10895-024-03740-7

A thiourea functionalised fluorescent probe 1-phenyl-3-(pyridin-4-yl)thiourea was synthesized and utilised as a fluorescent turn-on chemosensor for the selective recognition of Hg ion over competitive metal ions including Na , Mn , Li , Cr , Ni , Ca , Cd , Mg , K , Co , Cu , Zn , Al and Fe ions based on the inter-molecular charge transfer (ICT). Intriguingly, the receptor demonstrated unique sensing capabilities for Hg in DMSO: H O (10:90, v/v). The addition of Hg ions to the sensor resulted in a blue shift in the absorption intensity and also enhancement in fluorescence intensity at 435 nm. Fluorescence emission intensity increased linearly with Hg concentration ranging from 0 to 80 µL. The detection limit and binding constant were determined as 0.134 × 10  M and 1.733 × 10  M , respectively. The sensing behavior of Hg was further examined using DLS, SEM and FTIR. The probe could detect Hg ions across a wide pH range. Furthermore, the receptor L demonstrated good sensing performance for Hg in bovine serum albumin and actual water samples.