A novel nanomolar highly selective fluorescent probe for imaging mercury (II) in living cells and zebrafish

Abstract

A novel fluorescent probe, PES, which contains a bisethylsulfane moiety, displayed high specificity for Hg2+ detection. With Hg2+, PES showed significant blue fluorescence enhancement, while the metal ions Al3+, Ag+, Cr3+, Ca2+, Cu2+, Co2+, Cd2+, Fe3+, Fe2+, Mn2+, Mg2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, and Pb2+ exhibited only negligible fluorescence change. PES has been found to be an effective quantitative detector (LOD, 57 nM) for Hg2+ in semi-aqueous medium based on the Hg2+-induced removal of bisethylsulfane. It resulted in a turn-on blue fluorescence response. The fluorescence enhancement induced by Hg2+ was observed over the pH range of 4-10. Our fluorescence cell-imaging experiments revealed the applicability of the new probe, PES, to be a reliable and effective fluorescent marker for Hg2+ in living cells.