Analytical Sciences


Abstract − Analytical Sciences, 32(10), 1039 (2016).

Highly Sensitive Fluorescence Detection of Hg2+ Based on a Water-soluble Conjugated Polymer with Carboxylate Groups
Hongyu MI, Mingming GUAN, Hongyan SHAN, Qiang FEI, Yanfu HUAN, Zhiquan ZHANG, and Guodong FENG
Department of Analytical Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Jiefang Road 2519, Changchun 130012, P. R. China
A label-free, highly selective, and highly sensitive fluorescent sensor to detect Hg2+ was developed using a water-soluble conjugated polymer with carboxylate groups (poly(2,5-bis(sodium 4-oxybutyrate)-1,4-phenylethynylene-alt-1,4-phenyleneethynylene, PPE-OBS) in this work. The fluorescence of PPE-OBS would be quenched because of the effect among the unique coordination-induced aggregation and electron transfers of PPE-OBS toward Hg2+. The linear relationship between the fluorescence intensity and concentration of Hg2+ was observed within the range from 6 × 10−8 to 8 × 10−5 mol L−1 (R2 = 0.9985), and the limit of detection was 2.10 × 10−9 mol L−1. The proposed method was applied to detect Hg2+ in environmental water samples, and satisfactory results were obtained.