Coumarin-based Hg2+ fluorescent probe: Fluorescence turn-on detection for Hg2+ bioimaging in living cells and zebrafish.

The need in developing fluorescent probes for trace metal ion detection in biological samples has been an important issue. Herein, a reaction-based fluorescent probe PIC containing a perimidine moiety was designed and synthesized for Hg2+ detection. The probe can selectively distinguish Hg2+ with 42-fold fluorescent enhancement from the other metal ions at physiological pH. This probe can detect Hg2+ with the detection limit of 1.08 μM. The sensor PIC can be applied to real-time detection of Hg2+ in cells with blue emission. Unlabelled Image • PIC contains a perimidine moiety and displays high specificity for Hg2+ detection. • PIC has been found to be an effective quantitative detector (LOD, 1.08 μM) for Hg2+. • PIC can be successfully applied for Hg2+ detection in living cells and zebrafish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]