A rhodamine-based chemosensor with diphenylselenium for highly selective fluorescence turn-on detection of Hg2+ in vitro and in vivo

Abstract

A rhodamine-B based chemosensor with diphenylselenium, RhoSe, has been synthesized, and its detection behavior towards various metal ions is studied via UV/Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. RhoSe shows a selective response to Hg2+ in CH3OH/H2O (v/v = 9 : 1) solutions over other metal ions. After addition of Hg2+, the solution of RhoSe displays an obvious color change from colorless to pink and a significant, 48-fold fluorescence enhancement. The color change and fluorescence enhancement are attributed to the ring-opening of the spirolactam in the rhodamine fluorophore, which is induced by Hg2+ binding. The binding ratio of RhoSe-Hg2+ was determined by a Job plot as a 1 : 1 ratio, and the effective pH range for Hg2+ detection was 4.0-10. Importantly, the reversibility of the RhoSe-Hg2+ complex was observed through the addition of Na2S. For practical applications, the strip method was utilized to detect Hg2+ in water/methanol solution. In addition, confocal fluorescence microscopy experiments demonstrated that RhoSe is an effective fluorescent probe for Hg2+ detection in vitro and in vivo.