A triazole‐based fluorescence probe for detecting Hg2+ ions and its biological application.

A new compound, ethyl 5‐phenyl‐2‐(p‐tolyl)‐2H‐1,2,3‐triazole‐4‐carboxylate was successfully introduced and synthesized as a novel rhodamine B derivative named REPPC, and characterized by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), 13C NMR, and high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). It showed an obvious fluorescence and UV–visible light absorption enhancement towards Hg2+ ion without interference from common metal ions in N,N‐dimethylformamide–H2O (pH 7.4). The spirolactam ring moiety of rhodamine in REPPC was converted to the open‐ring form generating a 1:1 complex with the intervention of a mercury ion, verified by electrospray ionization‐mass spectroscopy testing and density functional theory calculation. REPPC was used to visualize the level of mercury ions in living HeLa cells with encouraging results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]