Fluorescent conjugated polymers based on thiocarbonyl quinacridone for sensing mercury ion and bioimaging†
Abstract
Because of the extreme toxicity of mercury ions (Hg2+), a great deal of effort has been invested in developing probes that use colorimetric and fluorometric methods to detect them. Nowadays, most of the current fluorescent probes still work in organic solvents or a mixture of organic solvents and water. Conjugated polymers (CPs) can serve as excellent fluorophores because of their strong emission and controllable emission wavelength. In this work, a kind of thiocarbonyl quinacridone-based CPs nanoparticle (PTQA-NPs) was synthesized for selectively detecting Hg2+ in pure water. Additionally, the fabrication of the nanoparticles provides a very sensitive correction for environmental effects, the minimum detectable concentration of Hg2+ for this nanoparticle was as low as 1 ppb. Furthermore, we show the capability of this polymer of monitoring Hg2+ in HeLa cell lines by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM).
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