Rapid detection of mercury (II) ions and water content by a new rhodamine B-based fluorescent chemosensor

Jiwen Hu; Xili Yu; Xin Zhang; Changcheng Jing; Tingting Liu; Xiaochun Hu; Senlin Lu; Kajsa Uvdal; Hong-Wen Gao; Zhangjun Hu

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2020.118657

Rapid detection of mercury (II) ions and water content by a new rhodamine B-based fluorescent chemosensor

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2020 Nov 5:241:118657. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2020.118657. Epub 2020 Jun 30.

Authors

Jiwen Hu¹, Xili Yu², Xin Zhang³, Changcheng Jing⁴, Tingting Liu⁵, Xiaochun Hu⁶, Senlin Lu⁷, Kajsa Uvdal³, Hong-Wen Gao⁵, Zhangjun Hu⁸

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, PR China; Division of Molecular Surface Physics & Nanoscience, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, Linköping 58183, Sweden.
² School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, PR China.
³ Division of Molecular Surface Physics & Nanoscience, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, Linköping 58183, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, United Kingdom.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China.
⁶ Breast Cancer Center, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, PR China.
⁷ School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, PR China. Electronic address: senlinlv@staff.shu.edu.cn.
⁸ School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, PR China; Division of Molecular Surface Physics & Nanoscience, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, Linköping 58183, Sweden. Electronic address: zhangjun.hu@liu.se.

PMID: 32659703
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2020.118657

Abstract

A rhodamine B-based sensor (RS) was designed and synthesized by a combination of the spirolacton rhodamine B (fluorophore) and multidentate chelates (ionophore) with high affinity towards Hg²⁺. In the presence of Hg²⁺, the resulting red-orange fluorescence (under UV light) and naked eye red color of RS are supposed to be used for quantitative and qualitative measurement of Hg²⁺. Further fluorescent titration and analysis demonstrate that RS can selectively detect Hg²⁺ within 1 s with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 16 nM in acetonitrile media, meanwhile, the association constant (K_a) was calculated to be 0.32 × 10⁵ M^-1. More importantly, the resultant complex (RSHg) of RS and Hg²⁺ has also been successfully applied to detect limited water content in acetonitrile solution.

Keywords: Fluorescence; Mercury; Rhodamine B; Water content.