A novel anthrancene-dopamine thioether L compound was designed as fluorescent probe for detecting Hg2+ in living cells sample. L exhibits a good sensitive and selective recognition towards Hg2+ ions in the presence of other important relevant metal ions and amino acids in HEPES solution. The addition of Hg2+ causes a marked enhancement in the fluorescence emission intensity with the detection limit as low as 1.1×10-6M, combining with obvious colormetric change from colorless to pale brown. Mechanistic studies show that catechol group and sulfur atom in L all participate in the coordination with Hg2+, though catechol group contributes mainly to chelation-enhanced fluorescence enhancement and sulfur atom to selectivity. Furthermore, L demonstrates good cell permeability and compatibility for sensitive fluorescent detection of Hg2+ in HepG2 cells. This present probe will have broad applications in biological imaging.
Keywords: Anthrancene; Cellular imaging; Dopamine; Fluorescent probe; Hg(2+); Thioether.
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