Synthesis and Application of Acylhydrazone Probe with High Selectivity and Rapid Detection of Mercury Ion

Abstract

A Schiff base acylhydrazone fluorescent probe (DPTYMH) was designed and synthesized using 3‐bromo‐N,N‐diphenylaniline, 5‐formyl‐2‐thiopheneboronic acid, and 2‐hydroxybenzohydrazide. The structure was then verified by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and HR‐MS. DPTYMH exhibited positive solvent photochromic effect based on the mechanism of intra‐molecular charge transfer (ICT), and demonstrated effectiveness, high selectivity, and specificity to capture mercury ion (Hg2+). The response time and the detection limit of DPTYMH on Hg2+ was under 10 s and as low as 1.01×10−8 M, respectively. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculation and 1H NMR were used to investigate the potential coordination mechanism. The Hg2+ level of several water samples had been effectively analyzed using DPTYMH. The molecular logic gate was also built using Hg2+ and EDTA as chemical inputs by taking use of DPTYMH′s reversibility in the presence of EDTA. Moreover, the DPTYMH was produced as test strips, which has the enormous potential to detect Hg2+ ions in the environment.