Xanthene-based Hg2+ fluorescent probe for detection of Hg2+ in water/food samples, as well as imaging of live cells, zebrafish and tobacco seedlings.

In this paper, an Hg2+ detection probe, HOS, was prepared with a xanthene as the parent fluorophore. Hg2+-initiated thioacetal deprotection reaction is the detection mechanism of this probe. After testing, the probe HOS was able to accurately determine Hg2+ with a detection limit of 36 nM. It was successfully applied to the detection of Hg2+ in different water samples and shrimp samples, meanwhile, the filter paper strips prepared by HOS were obviously changed from light yellow to dark yellow under daylight, and from green to yellow under 365 nm UV light. Furthermore, probe HOS enabled Hg2+ bioimaging experiments on HepG2 cells, zebrafish and tobacco seedlings under laser confocal microscopy.