Screening Mercury Levels in Fish with a Selective Fluorescent Chemosensor

Abstract

Societal concerns over toxic mercury accumulation in humans from fish and other dietary and environmental sources provide motivation to develop new tools and tactics for mercury detection in a wide range of laboratory and field settings. Here we report the synthesis, properties, and application of a selective and sensitive small-molecule chemosensor for fluorescence screening of mercury levels in fish. Mercuryfluor-1 (MF1) is a water-soluble, fluorescein-based reagent that features excellent selectivity for Hg2+ over competing analytes and the largest turn-on fluorescence response to date (>170-fold increase) for reporting this heavy metal ion in aqueous solution. Combining this chemoselective Hg2+ probe with a microwave digestion protocol provides a facile method for assaying mercury levels in fish samples with mercury concentrations spanning 0.1 to 8 ppm, a range well matched with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) standard for the maximum safe level of mercury in edible fish (0.55 ppm).

Sensing of Cyanide Using Highly Selective Thiazole-based Cu2+Chemosensor

“…fluoride and acetate, the nucleophilic addition reactions of cyanide were applied for sensing of cyanide, including reactions with oxazine, It is well known that chelating groups such as C = N and C-O exhibit a high affinity to transition and post-transition metal cations, but a lower binding affinity toward alkali metal and alkaline earth metal cations. 10 Recently we have reported thiazole based chemosensors as anions, 11 ratiometric fluorescence sensing of zinc, 12 and chromogenic and fluorogenic sensing of Cu(II).…”

Emission Detection of Mercuric Ions in Aqueous Media Based-on Dehybridization of DNA Duplexes

“…have been developed based on organic molecules, 8,[12][13][14][15][16][17] oligonucleotides, 18,19 proteins, 20 and conjugated polymers.…”

Silver Nanoparticles: Green Synthesis, Characterization, and Their Usage in Determination of Mercury Contamination in Seafoods

“…Although the traditional instrumental techniques, such as absorption spectroscopy, cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry, and gas chromatography, give the direct and quantitative detection of Hg 2+ concentration [4,5], it is highly desirable to develop facile and quick methods for measuring the level of this detrimental metallic ion in the environment with high sensitivity and selectivity.…”