A "Reactive" Ratiometric Fluorescent Probe for Mercury Species

Abstract

A ratiometric fluorescent probe for mercury species is developed bused on the metal-promoted hydrolysis of a vinyl ether derivative of 2-(benzothiazol-2-yl)phenol in a buffer solution. The probe responds selectively to mercury species over various other metal ions with a marked fluorescence change from blue to cyan through the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process. The fluorescence titration is complete with 0.5 equiv of HgCl2, which indicates that the probe also responds to organomercury species, RHgCl.