Highly selective detection of Hg2+ ion by push-pull-type purine nucleoside-based fluorescent sensor

Highly selective detection of Hg2+ ion has been achieved using the push-pull-type purine nucleoside-based fluorescent sensor L1. The sensor L1 incorporating aza-18-crown-6 at C6 position of purine nucleoside, is highly sensitive and selective toward Hg2+ ion in CH3CN-H2O mixture (92/8, v/v). The detection limit for the fluorescent sensor L1 toward Hg2+ ion is 7.8 × 10−8.