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. 2025 Jan;35(1):81-88.
doi: 10.1007/s10895-023-03508-5. Epub 2023 Nov 21.

A Reaction-Based ESIPT Fluorescent Probe for the Detection of Hg2+ with Large Stokes Shift

Dongjian Zhu  1 , Wenqin Yao  1   2 , Aishan Ren  3
Affiliations

A Reaction-Based ESIPT Fluorescent Probe for the Detection of Hg2+ with Large Stokes Shift

Dongjian Zhu et al. J Fluoresc. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

A novel reaction-based fluorescent probe 1 for Hg2+ was designed and synthesized. 1 was almost nonfluoresent due to inhibition of the ESIPT process between hydroxy group and imid carbonyl oxygen by diphenylphosphinothioate group. After reacting with Hg2+, the fluorescence intensity of 1 exhibited significant enhancement owing to recovery of the ESIPT process via Hg2+-promoted desulfurization-hydrolysis of the diphenylphosphinothioate moiety and cleavage of the P-O bond. 1 not only showed rapid response, high sensitivity, excellent selectivity for Hg2+ over other metal ions, but also could detect Hg2+ with large Stokes shift (165 nm), which was attributed to the ESIPT process. Moreover, the reaction mechanism was fully validated by absorption spectra, fluorescence spectra, fluorescence color as well as ESI-MS analysis.

Keywords: ESIPT; Fluorescent probe; Hg2+; Large Stokes shift; Reaction.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical Approval: This article does not contain any studies involving human participants conducted by any of the authors. Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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