A reaction-based ratiometric fluorescent sensor for the detection of Hg(ii) ions in both cells and bacteria

Article abstract of DOI:10.1039/c8cc01031e

A novel reaction-based fluorescent probe (ATC-Hg) was designed and synthesized via the "covalent assembly" principle, which exhibited excellent selectivity and high sensitivity for Hg²⁺ and CH₃Hg⁺. Moreover, it is the firs

Full text of DOI:10.1039/c8cc01031e

View Article Online
View Journal
ChemComm
Accepted Manuscript
This article can be cited before page numbers have been issued, to do this please use: X. Yu, S. Pan, K. Li,
L. Li, M. Li, L. Shi and Y. Liu, Chem. Commun., 2018, DOI: 10.1039/C8CC01031E.
This is an Accepted Manuscript, which has been through the
Volume 52 Number
1 4 January 2016 Pages 1–216
Royal Society of Chemistry peer review process and has been
accepted for publication.
ChemComm
Accepted Manuscripts are published online shortly after
Chemical Communications
www.rsc.org/chemcomm
acceptance, before technical editing, formatting and proof reading.
Using this free service, authors can make their results available
to the community, in citable form, before we publish the edited
article. We will replace this Accepted Manuscript with the edited
and formatted Advance Article as soon as it is available.
You can find more information about Accepted Manuscripts in the
author guidelines.
Please note that technical editing may introduce minor changes
to the text and/or graphics, which may alter content. The journal’s
standard Terms & Conditions and the ethical guidelines, outlined
in our author and reviewer resource centre, still apply. In no
event shall the Royal Society of Chemistry be held responsible
for any errors or omissions in this Accepted Manuscript or any
consequences arising from the use of any information it contains.
ISSN 1359-7345
COMMUNICATION
Marilyn M. Olmstead, Alan L. Balch, Josep M. Poblet, Luis Echegoyenet al.
Reactivity differences of Sc3N@C2n (2n 68 and 80). Synthesis of the
first methanofullerene derivatives of Sc N@D5h-C80
=
3
rsc.li/chemcomm

Please do not adjust margins
ChemComm
Page 1 of 5
View Article Online
DOI: 10.1039/C8CC01031E
Journal Name
COMMUNICATION
A reaction-based ratiometric fluorescent sensor for detection of
Hg(II) ions both in cells and bacteria†
Received 00th January 20xx,
Accepted 00th January 20xx
Sheng-Lin Pan, Kun Li,* Ling-Ling Li, Meng-Yang Li, Lei Shi, Yan-Hong Liu and Xiao-Qi Yu*
DOI: 10.1039/x0xx00000x
www.rsc.org/
A novel reaction-based fluorescent probe (ATC-Hg) was designed utilize a specific chemical reaction between a probe molecule
and synthesized via “covalent assembly” principle, which and targeted species, which leads to the formation of a
exhibtied excellent selectivity and high sensitivity for Hg2+ and fluorescent or coloured product accompanied with a unique
CH3Hg+. Moreover, it is the first Hg(II) senstive fluorescent probe spectroscopic change. Moreover, this characteristic makes the
that has been succesfully applied in imaging in both cells and design of ratiometric sensors easier. Since they allow the
Escherichia coli.
measurement of emission intensities at two different
wavelengths, and are not easily disturbed by
Mercury (Hg) is one of the most hazardous and ubiquitous
heavy metals. Its bioaccumulation involves inorganic mercury
(Hg0, Hg2+) and methylmercury species (MeHg+), which can
enter the food chain and are subsequently ingested by
humans.1 Because of high reactivity and liposolubility, Hg2+ and
MeHg+ can cause grisly immunotoxic, genotoxic, and
neurototoxic effects, which can lead to many severe health
problems such as kidney failure, central nervous system
damage with various cognitive and motor disorders, and even
death.2 The increasing mercury contamination in our living
environment and ecosystem has created significant concerns
and thus its facile detection and effective tracing in biological
samples is highly demanded. Owing to the high spatiotemporal
resolution, sensitivity and selectivity, as well as simple
operation procedures, fluorescence imaging has been
regarded as one of the most effective and convenient method
for detecting and sensing of Hg (II) and related compounds.
In recent years, various Hg2+ fluorescent probes based on
the coordination with heteroatom-containing ligands have
been reported.3 However, these Hg(II) sensitive probes usually
showed low selectivity due to theirs reversible complexation
and the interferences from other metal cations (such as Ag+,
Cu2+, Pb2+, Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions et. al) 3a-g, or anions (like I-, CN-
microenvironment, sensor concentration, photobleaching and
5
excitation intensity, etc.4, Till now, most of the reported
reaction-based Hg(II) probes have limitations including
unsatisfactory water solubility,5, 6 long response time,5d-e, 6f or
high detection limit 5d-e, 6g, 7. On the other hand, in contrast to
inorganic mercury (Hg2+) detection, only a few probes have
8
been investigated as potential MeHg+ sensors till now.6d,
What’s more, no probe has realized the imaging of Hg(II) both
in cells and bacteria. Herein, we designed and synthesized a
reaction-based ratiometric fluorescent probe ATC-Hg for Hg2+
and MeHg+ detection in aqueous solutions. Importantly, for
the first time, we further successfully applied ATC-Hg in the
detection of Hg(II) both in Hela cells and Escherichia coli.
Through consulting literatures, we found the vast majority
of Hg(II) sensitive fluorescent probes are designed based on
Hg(II)-induced spirolactam ring-opening process of rhodamine
derivatives (Scheme 1a), adopting the affinity of sulfur or
selenium to Hg2+ ions.1 Driven by desulfation or deselenization,
mercury induces spirolactam ring open. Following that,
coordination, hydrolysis or cyclization will happen, thus
leading to the change of fluorescent signal. However, this
sensing mechanism is only suitable for fluorescence intensity-
enhanced probes rather than ratiomateric probes. Recently,
Yang group reported a “covalent assembly” strategy to design
Hg(II) probes, which utilize substrate-triggered chemical
cascade reaction to furnish the conjugative backbone of a
push-pull fluorescent dye.6d-e However, those probes have not
been used in biological sample detection.6d
3-
3f-h
and PO4 et. al)
and other ligands (like dithiouracil, EDTA
et. al) 3i. By contrast, the irreversible reaction-based probes are
advantageous in terms of selectivity and sensitivity, as they
Our group have developed many reaction-based coumarin
derivatives as florescent probes for ROS (reactive oxygen
species), RSS (reactive sulphur species) and pH.9 In light of
“covalent assembly” strategy, we report a novel coumarin
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 20xx
J. Name., 2013, 00, 1-3 | 1
Please do not adjust margins

Please do not adjust margins
ChemComm
Page 2 of 5
View Article Online
DOI: 10.1039/C8CC01031E
COMMUNICATION
Journal Name
based fluorescent probe ATC-Hg, its performance in biological expected conversion of ATC-Hg to c-ql (Scheme 1b).
samples is also investigated. The key design strategy of ATC-Hg Meanwhile, an absorption band at 480 nm appeared, while the
is the ortho 2-aminophenyl group installed to the Hg2+/MeHg+- absorption at 410 nm from ATC-Hg decreased in UV-Vis
reactive 1,3-dithiolane moiety, which causes the fluorescence spectra (Fig. S1, ESI), which was consistent with the variation
change of coumarin derivatives through an ICT (intramolecular tendency of fluorescence spectra.
charge transfer) process. Once 1,3-dithiolane is desulfurized to
The detection kinetics of ATC-Hg was also investigated.
a formyl group (c-a), a condensation with the nearby amino (Fig. S2, ESI) It showed that the reaction between ATC-Hg and
group (NH2) will then occur to generate the product c-ql. It is a Hg2+ can be completed within 3 min. On the other hand, the
heterocyclic aromatic compound with larger conjugate planes response sensitivity of MeHg+ by ATC-Hg was much weaker
than that of its precursor. In addition, NH2 can coordinate to than that of Hg2+. After about 30 min, the reaction between
the mercury centre and thereby brings it in close proximity to ATC-Hg and MeHg+ reached equilibrium.
1,3-dithiolane, which is benefit for the intramolecular
cyclocondensation reaction.
Remarkably, the fluorescent intensity ratios at 572 and 492
nm (I572/I492) exhibited a drastic change from 0.25 (in the
absence of Hg2+) to 6.04 (in the presence of 1 eq. Hg2+), a 24-
fold enhancement in the emission ratios. The fluorescence
response toward Hg2+ or MeHg+ by ATC-Hg (5 μM) exhibited
outstanding linear relationship (Fig. S3, ESI, R2 = 0.9908 and
0.9956, for Hg2+ and MeHg+, respectively) between the
emission ratios (I572/I492) and the concentration of Hg2+ (0-5
μM, 0-1.0 eq.) or MeHg+ (0-1 mM, 0-200 eq.). The theoretical
lowest detection limit (LOD = 3σ / s) was 27 nM and 5.8 μM for
Hg2+ and MeHg+, respectively.
a.
X1
R1
X2
Hg2+
N
O
N
N
O
N
X1 = O, S, N-R2;
X2 = S, Se, N-R3
b.
NH2
H2
N
S
N
CHO
Hg (II)
S
N
O
O
N
O
O
N
O
O
ATC-Hg
c-a
c-ql
Scheme 1 a. The reported design strategy via Hg(II)-induced spirolactam ring-
opening process; b. the “covalent assembly” mechanism for Hg(II) in this work.
Probe ATC-Hg was easily synthesized and characterized by
NMR and HRMS (Scheme S1, ESI). As shown in Fig. 1, the
spectral properties of ATC-Hg were studied in PBS buffer (10
mM, pH 7.4). It had a maximum absorption and emission at
405 nm and 492 nm, respectively. After reacted with Hg2+
completely, it showed a maximum absorption and emission at
480 nm and 572 nm, respectively. The quantum yields of ATC-
Hg and c-ql in PBS buffer (10 mM, pH 7.4) were 0.7% and 9.3%,
respectively. In consideration of better ratiometric effect and
potential biological application of probe ATC-Hg, we chose
405nm as the optimum excitation wavelength.
Fig. 2 (a) Fluorescence titration of 5 μM ATC-Hg by Hg2+. Spectra was collected 4
min after Hg2+ addition. Inset: dose-dependent enhancement of the emission
ratios (I572/I492)
with respect to Hg2+ equivalence. (b) Fluorescence emission
titration of 5 μM ATC-Hg by MeHg+. Spectra was collected 30 min after MeHg+
addition. Inset: dose-dependent enhancement of the emission ratios (I572/I492
with respect to MeHg+ equivalence. slit: 5 nm/5 nm.
)
The optical sensing properties of chemosensor are mainly
dominated by the specificity of chemical reaction between
dosimeter molecule and target species. The selectivity of ATC-
Hg toward common metal cations, including Ba2+, Cd2+, Co2+,
Cr3+, Cu2+, Fe3+, Fe2+, Mn2+, Ni2+, Pb2+, Zn2+, Hg2+ in PBS buffer
(10 mM, pH 7.4), and Ag+ in pure H2O, was systematically
investigated. As shown in Fig. S4 (ESI), the fluorescence
response of ATC-Hg toward different competitive cations
exhibited only negligible changes, except for Cu2+
、
Mn2+ and
Ag+. The reason that Cu2+ and Mn2+ can partly quenching the
fluorescence of ATC-Hg may come from their coordination
with ATC-Hg. Yet Ag+ is soft acid with the ability of reacting
with the sulfur atom like mercury.8a, 10 Also, the competition
studies were investigated. As shown in Fig. S4b and S4c (ESI),
the fluorescence response of ATC-Hg toward different
competitive cations (10 eq.) in the presence of Hg2+ (1 eq.)
exhibited only negligible changes, except for Ag+. Remarkably,
Mn2+ and low concentration of Cu2+ also exhibited only slight
Fig. 1 Absorption and emission spectra of ATC-Hg before (black and blue) and
after (red and pink) reacting with Hg2+ in PBS buffer (10 mM, pH 7.4). Slit: 5
nm/5 nm.
Then the responding activities were investigated. Upon
addition of an aliquot of Hg2+ or MeHg+ to ATC-Hg (5 μM) in
PBS buffer solution (10 mM, pH 7.4), an emission peak at 572
nm appeared, while the emission at 492 nm from ATC-Hg
decreased (Fig. 2a, 2b), which is in agreement with the
changes in the emission ratio (I572/I492
) as a result of
ratiometric effect. Nevertheless, in cases where ATC-Hg is used
for quantification of MeHg+, the presence of high levels of Cu2+
and Ag+ might cause serious interference.
2 | J. Name., 2012, 00, 1-3
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 20xx
Please do not adjust margins

Please do not adjust margins
ChemComm
Page 3 of 5
View Article Online
DOI: 10.1039/C8CC01031E
Journal Name
COMMUNICATION
The responsive mechanism of ATC-Hg is based on the weaker fluorescence in the red channel. The related
previously reported Hg2+-promoted desulfurization of 1,3- ratiometric image of HeLa cells showed an emission ratio of
dithiolane groups and MeHg+ is expected to show a similar 0.15. In the presence of increased concentrations of Hg2+ (5,
chemical reaction 6d. Therefore, the investigation towards the 10, 25μM), the related emission ratio increased to 0.33
proposed chemical reaction mechanism were carried out by gradually (Fig. S7a, ESI). The fluorescence intensity ratio
performing 1H-NMR of the ATC-Hg in the absence and change of ATC-Hg-stained cells showed positive correlation
presence of 2.4 equiv. of Hg2+ (excess). As indicated in Fig. 3, with the concentrations of Hg2+. These results indicated ATC-
after reacting with excess Hg2+, ATC-Hg had completely Hg could be used for the detection of Hg(II) in cells, which is of
transformed into equivalent compound c-ql and S-Hg, the considerable significance for reaction-based fluorescent
integral ratio of which shows 1:1. In the presence of excess probes.
Hg2+, the 1,3-dithiolane signal at 5.25 ppm (H1), 3.00-3.70 ppm
(H2) and the amino signal at 6.56 ppm (H3) disappeared, while
the new signal of S-Hg at 2.55 ppm (H2*, Fig. S5, ESI) appeared.
Meanwhile, all the proton signal in aromatic region shifted to
downfield, in which we can clearly distinguish the appearance
singlet of c-ql at 8.83 ppm (H1*), 8.75 ppm (H4*) and 8.94 ppm
(H7*). Furthermore, mass spectroscopy (Fig. S6, ESI) confirmed
the formation of product c-ql through the presence of the
peaks at m/z = 319.1446 (calcd. for [M+H]+, 319.1447).
Fig. 4 Fluorescent confocal microscopy images of immobilized HeLa cells stained
with 5 μM ATC-Hg for 5 min in the presence of various concentrations of Hg2+ (5,
10, 25μM) at 37oC. Green channel: 470-520 nm; Red channel images: 560-590
nm; Ratio images of red/green. ex: 405 nm.
Fig.3 (a)1H NMR spectra of ATC-Hg, and (b) ATC-Hg in the presence of excess
Hg2+ in DMSO-d6.
It has been reported that the Hg2+ could be transformed to
MeHg+ in some bacteria 12, therefore, fluorescence detection
Practical application of ATC-Hg in environmental water
of Hg2+ in bacteria would be helpful to understand this
samples was also investigated. Probe ATC-Hg was employed to
determine Hg2+ concentrations in the water samples from
transformation and mechanism. To further explore its
application, we performed determination of Hg2+ with ATC-Hg
FuNan River. Considering that other components may cause
possible interference in real samples, the level of Hg2+ in water
in E. coli by imaging on confocal laser scanning microscopy. As
illustrated in Fig. 5 and Fig. S7b (ESI), the E. coli stained by 5
samples was determined using the standard addition method
μM ATC-Hg alone showed strong fluorescence in the green
(often referred to as “spiking” samples) according to previous
publications.11 Added Hg2+ in the water samples could be
channel and weak fluorescence in the red channel. In the
presence of increased concentrations of Hg2+ (5, 10, 25, 50,
accurately measured with good recovery (Table S1, ESI),
100μM), the fluorescence in the red channel became stronger,
indicating that ATC-Hg is effective for quantitative detection of
Hg2+ in real environmental samples.
and the related emission ratio increased from 0.21 to 0.86
gradually (Fig. S7c, ESI). This showed good positive correlation
With the desirable fluorescence properties of ATC-Hg for
fluorescence detection of Hg2+, the potential application in
biological samples was explored. Considering the interference
of thiol to Hg(II) in living cells (forming complex) and the high
toxicity of Hg2+, we investigated the fluorescence intensity
ratio change of ATC-Hg in the presence of various
concentrations of Hg2+ in immobilized HeLa cells. As shown in
Fig.4 (D, H, L and P), increasing the concentrations of Hg2+, the
fluorescence intensity ratio change of ATC-Hg-stained cells
could be easily observed. The cells stained by 5 μM ATC-Hg
alone showed strong fluorescence in the green channel and
between the fluorescence intensity ratio change of ATC-Hg
-
stained E. coli and the concentrations of Hg2+. These results
proved ATC-Hg could be applied in tracing Hg2+ in E. coli, which
would be a good tool to study the biotransformation of Hg(II)
in bacteria.
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 20xx
J. Name., 2013, 00, 1-3 | 3
Please do not adjust margins

Please do not adjust margins
ChemComm
Page 4 of 5
View Article Online
DOI: 10.1039/C8CC01031E
COMMUNICATION
Journal Name
Zong, C. Wang, Y.-C. Song, Y.-J. Xie, P. Zhang, Q. Peng, Q.-Q. Li, Z. Li, Sens.
Actuators B, 2017, 252, 1105–1111; (g) S.-S. Zhang, Q.-F. Niu, L.-X. Lan, T.-
D. Li, Sens. Actuators B, 2017, 240, 793–800; (h) P. Srivastava, S. S. Razi, R.
Ali, R. C. Gupta, S. S. Yadav, G. Narayan, and A. Misra, Anal. Chem., 2014,
86, 8693-8699; (i) A. Kumar, P. S. Chae, Sens. Actuators B, 2017, 251, 416–
426; (j) L. N. Neupane, E.-T. Oh, H. J. Park, and K.-H. Lee, Anal. Chem.,
2016, 88, 3333-3340.
4
Y.-Y. Lv, W. Gu, J.-B. Wang, W.-B. Huang, W.-X. Shen, X.-Y. Sun, Sens.
Actuators B, 2017, 246, 1017–1024.
5 (a) Y.-C. Chen, W.-J. Zhang, Y.-J. Cai, Ryan T. K. Kwok, Y.-B. Hu, J. W. Y. Lam,
X.-G. Gu, Z.-K. He, Z. Zhao, X.-Y. Zheng, B. Chen, C. Gui and B.-Z. Tang,
Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 2047–2055; (b) Y. Zhou, X.-F. He, H. Chen, Y. Wang, S.-
Z. Xiao, N.-N. Zhang, D.-J. Li, K.-B. Zheng, Sens. Actuators B, 2017, 247,
626–631; (c) Y. Jiao, X. Liu, L. Zhou, H.-Y. He, P. Zhou, C.-Y. Duan, Sens.
Actuators B, 2017, 247, 950–956; (d) J.-W. Hu, Z.-J. Hu, S. Liu, Q. Zhang,
H.-W. Gao, K. Uvdal, Sens. Actuators B, 2016, 230, 639–644; (e) J.-X. Ru, X.
Chen, L.-P. Guan, X.-L. Tang, C.-M. Wang, Y. Meng, G.-L. Zhang, and W.-S.
Liu, Anal. Chem., 2015, 87, 3255-3262.
6 (a) K. Bera, A. K. Das, M. Nag, and S. Basak, Anal. Chem., 2014, 86, 2740-
2746; (b) H.-B. Xiao, Y.-Z. Zhang, S.-Z. Li, W. Zhang, Z.-Y. Han, J.-J. Tan, S.-Y.
Zhang, J.-Y. Du, Sens. Actuators B, 2016, 236, 233–240; (c) M.-Y. She, S.-P.
Wu, Z.-H. Wang, S.-Y. Ma, Z. Yang, B. Yin, P. Liu, S.-Y. Zhang, J.-L. Li, Sens.
Actuators B, 2017, 247, 129–138; (d) Z.-Q. Zhang, B.-Y Zhang, X.-H. Qian, Z.
Li, Z.-P. Xu, and Y.-J. Yang, Anal. Chem., 2014, 86, 11919-11924; (e) L.-L
Song, Z.-H. Lei, B.-Y. Zhang, Z.-P. Xu, Z. Li and Y.-J. Yang, Anal. Methods,
2014, 6, 7597–7600; (f) M.-M. Hong, X.-Y. Lu, Y.-H. Chen, D.-M. Xu, Sens.
Actuators B, 2016, 232, 28–36; (g) J.-L. Wang, W.-L. Li, L.-P. Long, Sens.
Actuators B, 2017, 245, 462–469.
Fig. 5 Fluorescent confocal microscopy images of normal E. coli stained with 5
μM ATC-Hg for 5 min in the presence of various concentrations of Hg2+ (0, 25,
100μM) for 30 min in the shaker at 37oC. Green channel images: 470-520 nm;
Red channel images: 560-590 nm; Ratio images of red/green. ex: 405 nm.
7 C.-J. Wu, J.-B. Wang, J.-J. Shen, C. Bi, H.-W. Zhou, Sens. Actuators B, 2017,
243, 678–683.
8 (a) H.-R. Yang, C.-M. Han, X.-J. Zhu, Y. Liu, K. Y. Zhang, S.-J. Liu, Q. Zhao, F.-
Y. Li, and W. Huang, Adv. Funct. Mater., 2016, 26, 1945–1953; (b) M. Deng,
D.-Y. Gong, S.-C. Han, X.-T. Zhu, A. Iqbal, W.-S. Liu, W.-W. Qin, H.-C. Guo,
Sens. Actuators B, 2017, 243, 195–202; (c) B. Díaz de Greñu, J. García-
Calvo, J. Cuevas, G. García-Herbosa, B. García, N. Busto, S. Ibeas, T.
Torroba, B. Torroba, A. Herrerab and S. Pons, Chem. Sci., 2015, 6, 3757–
3764; (d) J. García-Calvo, S. Vallejos, F. C. García, J. Rojo, J. M. García and T.
Torroba, Chem. Commun., 2016, 52, 11915–11918; (e) Y. Liu, S. Wang, Y.
Ma, J. Lin, H.-Y. Wang, Y.-Q. Gu, X.-Y. Chen, and P. Huang, Adv. Mater.,
2017, 29, 1606129; (f) G. Singh, K.-M. Hsu, Y.-J. Chen, S.-C. Wu, C.-Y. Chen
and Y.-M. Wang, Chem. Commun., 2015, 51, 12032–12035; (g) Y. Liu, M.
Chen, T.-Y. Cao, Y. Sun, C.-Y. Li, Q. Liu, T.-S. Yang, L.-M. Yao, W. Feng, and
F.-Y. Li, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135, 9869-9876; (h) D.-S. Mei, B.-K. He, L.
Chen, Z.-J. Yao, Tetrahedron Letters, 2012, 53, 3463–3466; (i) H. Wang
and W.-H. Chan, Tetrahedron, 2007, 63, 8825–8830.
Conclusions
In summary, a novel reaction-based fluorescent probe
(ATC-Hg) was designed and synthesized for the quantification
of Hg2+ and MeHg+ via the “covalent assembly” principle.
Significantly, probe ATC-Hg exhibits high sensitivity and
selectivity towards Hg2+ and MeHg+, the theoretical lowest
detection limit of Hg2+ and MeHg+ is 27 nM and 5.8 μM,
respectively. Meanwhile, the responsive mechanism was
proved by HRMS, 1H NMR spectrum. Moreover, ATC-Hg was
successfully applied to quantitative detection of Hg2+ in real
environmental samples and imaging of Hg2+ both in HeLa cells
and E. coli. We anticipate this probe should prove useful for 9 (a) M.-Y. Wu, K. Li, C.-Y. Li, J.-T. Hou and X.-Q. Yu, Chem. Commun., 2014,
Hg2+ determination in biosamples.
50, 183-185; (b) J.-T. Hou, J. Yang, K. Li, Y.-X. Liao, K.-K. Yu, Y.-M. Xie and
X.-Q. Yu, Chem. Commun., 2014, 50, 9947-9950; (c) M.-Y. Wu, K. Li, Y.-H.
Liu, K.-K. Yu, Y.-M. Xie, X.-D. Zhou, X.-Q. Yu, Biomaterials, 2015, 53, 669-
678.
Acknowledgements
10 R. G. Pearson, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1963, 85, 3533.
11 (a) W.-Y. Lin, L.-L. Long and W. Tan, Chem. Commun., 2010, 46, 1503-
1505; (b) J. Li, C.-F. Zhang, S.-H. Yang, W.-C. Yang, and G.-F. Yang, Anal.
This work was financially supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (nos 21572147, 21232005 and
J1103315).
Chem. 2014, 86, 3037-3042.
12 (a) J. M. Parks, A. Johs, M. Podar, R. Bridou, R. A. Hurt Jr., S. D. Smith, S. J.
Tomanicek, Y. Qian, S. D. Brown, C. C. Brandt, A. V. Palumbo, J. C. Smith, J.
D. Wall, D. A. Elias, L.-Y. Liang, Science, 2013, 339, 1332-1335; (b) H.-Y. Hu,
H. Lin, W. Zheng, S. J. Tomanicek, A. Johs, X.-B. Feng, D. A. Elias, L.-Y. Liang
and B.-H. Gu, Nature Geosci., 2013, 6, 751-754.
Notes and references
1 Y.-M. Yang, Q. Zhao, W. Feng, and F.-Y. Li, Chem. Rev., 2013, 113, 192-270.
2 (a) R. Eisler, Mercury Hazards to Living Organisms, CRC Press, New York,
2006; (b) M. Aschner, N. Onishchenko and S. Ceccatelli, Toxicology of
Alkylmercury Compounds, in Organometallics in Environment and
Toxicology: Metal Ions in Life Sciences, ed. A. Sigel, H. Sigel and R. K. O.
Sigel, 2010, vol. 7, ch. 12, p. 403.
3
(a) A. Aliberti, P. Vaiano, A. Caporale, M. Consales, M. Ruvo, A. Cusano,
Sens. Actuators B, 2017, 247, 727–735; (b) L.-Y. Zong, Y.-J. Xie, Q.-Q. Li, Z.
Li, Sens. Actuators B, 2017, 238, 735–743; (c) W.-Y. Fang, G.-B. Zhang, J.
Chen, L. Kong, L.-M. Yang, H. Bi, J.-X. Yang, Sens. Actuators B, 2016, 229,
338–346; (d) I. Kim, N.-E. Lee, Y.-J. Jeong, Y.-H. Chung, B.-K. Cho and E. Lee,
Chem. Commun., 2014, 50, 14006; (e) L. Feng, W. Shi, J.-C. Ma, Y.-B. Chen,
F. Kui, Y.-H. Hui, Z.-F. Xie, Sens. Actuators B, 2016, 237, 563–569; (f) L.-Y.
4 | J. Name., 2012, 00, 1-3
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 20xx
Please do not adjust margins

Page 5 of 5
ChemComm
View Article Online
DOI: 10.1039/C8CC01031E
A reaction-based ratiometric fluorescent sensor for detection of Hg(II)
ions both in cells and bacteria
Sheng-Lin Pan, Kun Li, Ling-Ling Li, Meng-Yang Li, Lei Shi, Yan-Hong Liu and Xiao-Qi Yu
A novel reaction-based fluorescent probe via “covalent assembly” principle was presented and
successfully applied for imaging of Hg(II) in HeLa cells and E. coli.