A fluorescent turn-on probe for Hg(II) based on an NTe2 chelating motif and its application in living cell imaging.

A boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) derivative (BODTe) with an NTe 2 chelating motif exhibits high selectivity for Hg 2+ detection. Significant fluorescence enhancement was observed with the chemosensor BODTe in the presence of Hg 2+ . However, the metal ions Ag + , Al 3+ , Ca 2+ , Cd 2+ , Co 2+ , Cu 2+ ,Cr 3+ , Fe 2+ , Fe 3+ , Hg 2+ , Mg 2+ , Mn 2+ , Ni 2+ , Pb 2+ , and Zn 2+ produced only minor changes in the fluorescence values of the system. The association constant ( K a ) of Hg 2+ binding for the chemosensor BODTe was found to be 3.84 × 10 3 M −1 , with a detection limit of 19.2 μM. The maximum fluorescence enhancement caused by Hg 2+ binding in the chemosensor BODTe was observed over the pH range of 4.0–10.0. Confocal fluorescence microscopy imaging using RAW 264.7 cells showed that BODTe can be used as an effective fluorescent probe for detecting Hg 2+ in living cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]