1. A carbonothioate-based far-red fluorescent probe for the specific detection of mercury ions in living cells and zebrafish
- Author
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Qingxia Duan, Caiyun Liu, Zilu Li, Baocun Zhu, Wenlong Sheng, Zuokai Wang, Pan Jia, Yuan Ruifang, Fang Zhaotong, and Hanchuang Zhu
- Subjects
Fluorophore ,Cell Survival ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Ionic bonding ,02 engineering and technology ,Photochemistry ,01 natural sciences ,Biochemistry ,Analytical Chemistry ,Mice ,Electron transfer ,symbols.namesake ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Limit of Detection ,Stokes shift ,Electrochemistry ,Animals ,Environmental Chemistry ,Moiety ,Sulfhydryl Compounds ,Zebrafish ,Spectroscopy ,Fluorescent Dyes ,Chemistry ,Optical Imaging ,010401 analytical chemistry ,Water ,Far-red ,Mercury ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Fluorescence ,0104 chemical sciences ,Mercury (element) ,RAW 264.7 Cells ,symbols ,0210 nano-technology - Abstract
The detection of ionic mercury (Hg2+) is very important because it is a highly toxic environmental pollutant that could cause serious diseases and threaten human health. Herein, we designed a new carbonothioate-based far-red fluorescent probe, CBRB, with a seminaphthorhodafluor dye as the fluorophore for the detection of Hg2+. The CBRB probe by itself exhibited very weak fluorescence due to the enhanced photo-induced electron transfer (PET) effect and inhibited the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) process caused by the carbonothioate moiety. Upon addition of Hg2+, a tremendous fluorescence enhancement was achieved, attributed to the removal of the carbonothioate group via a specific mercury-promoted desulfurization reaction. Moreover, the probe displayed a large Stokes shift (about 105 nm) and was used to quantitatively measure the concentration of Hg2+ for concentrations ranging from 0 to 1 μM (DL = 3.6 nM). In addition, CBRB in our experiments responded exclusively to Hg2+, even in the presence of high concentrations other ions. Gratifyingly, this probe was successfully used to monitor Hg2+ in environmental water samples and to image Hg2+ in living cells as well as in zebrafish.
- Published
- 2019