A Novel and Simple Molecular Probe Sensing Hg（II） in Living Cells by Chelation-enhanced Fluorescence

Mercury is currently widely used in industries which leads to various means of Hg（II） waste exposure and its accumulation in organisms will cause neurological damages. Thus, there is a great need for the design of probes or sensors with high sensitivity and selectivity for detecting and monitoring Hg（II） at physiological pH. Thus a novel and simple molecular probe P1 was prepared from 1,1＇-（1,3-phenylene）-bis（2,4-pentanedionato） for sensing Hg（II） via chelation-enhanced fluorescence （CHEF） mechanism. The probe indicated a selectively fluorescent response to Hg（II） in aqueous media excited by the ultraviolet light of 254 nm. The recognition mechanism was further studied by semi-empirical AM1 and molecular mechanics MM＋ methods in HyperChem 8.0. The calculation indicated a tetrahedron coordination geometry for Hg（II） and a chair-like configuration for the total molecule. The fluorescent images sensing Hg（II） in living mouse fibroblast cells by the probe were obtained by fluorescence microscope.