Cholic acid-based fluorescent sensor for mercuric and methyl mercuric ion in aqueous solutions

Cholic acid-based fluorescent PET sensor probe 1, bearing a pair of dithiocarbamate pendants as the receptive site and anthracene moiety as the signal displaying unit, was designed and synthesized. The sensor probe not only shows high selectivity and sensitivity to Hg²⁺ in aqueous acetonitrile solution, but also responds moderately to MeHg⁺. A distinctive OFF-ON type signaling of up to 10-fold enhancement was observed for this new sensor probe toward Hg²⁺.