Mix-&-Read Determination of Mercury(II) at Trace Levels with Hybrid Mesoporous Silica Materials Incorporating Fluorescent Probes by a Simple Mix-&-Load Technique

Estela Climent; Mandy Hecht; Heike Witthuhn; Kornelia Gawlitza; Knut Rurack

doi:10.1002/open.201800277

Mix-&-Read Determination of Mercury(II) at Trace Levels with Hybrid Mesoporous Silica Materials Incorporating Fluorescent Probes by a Simple Mix-&-Load Technique

ChemistryOpen. 2018 Dec 5;7(12):957-968. doi: 10.1002/open.201800277. eCollection 2018 Dec.

Authors

Estela Climent¹, Mandy Hecht^{1

2}, Heike Witthuhn¹, Kornelia Gawlitza¹, Knut Rurack¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Analytical Chemistry; Reference Materials Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) Richard-Willstätter-Str. 11 12489 Berlin Germany.
² Current address: CodeCheck GmbH Gneisenaustraße 115 10961 Berlin Germany.

Abstract

The synthesis, characterization, and application of mesoporous materials containing boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) moieties that allow the sensitive and selective detection of Hg^II in aqueous environments by fluorescence enhancement is reported. For this purpose, BODIPY dye I containing a thia-aza crown ether receptor as the fluorescent probe for the detection of Hg^II in aqueous environments is encapsulated into mesoporous materials to avoid self-quenching or aggregation in water. Determination of Hg^II is accomplished within a few seconds with high selectivity and sensitivity, reaching a limit of detection of 12 ppt. The determination of trace amounts of Hg^II in natural waters and in fish extracts is demonstrated by using our sensing material. The incorporation of the material into several μ-PAD strips yields a portable, cheap, quick, and easy-to-handle tool for trace Hg^II analysis in water.

Keywords: dyes/pigments; fluorescence; mercury; mesoporous materials; test strips.