A rhodamine derivative as selective fluorescent and colorimetric chemosensor for mercury (II) in buffer solution, test strips and living cells

•We synthesized a rhodamine derivative as selective fluorescent probe for Hg2+.•The crystal structure of probe 1 was obtained.•Probe 1 displayed colorimetric and fluorescent dual-responses toward Hg2+.•Probe 1 was successfully used for detection of Hg2+ in paper strips and living cells.

In this paper, we reported a new rhodamine derivative bearing 2,4-dichloroquinazoline as a selective fluorescent chemosensor for Hg2+. The ring-opening process of spirolactam enabled the large fluorescent enhancement and colorimetric change by Hg2+ induced configuration transformation of the rhodamine. Moreover, the fluorescence changes of the chemosensor were dramatically specific for Hg2+ in the presence of other metal ions, which could meet the selective requirements for practical application. Under optimized experimental conditions, the linear response range covered the concentration range of Hg2+ from 0 to 1.0 × 10−6 M, and the limit of detection was calculated to be 2.7 × 10−8 M. In addition, the probe was also successfully applied to the determination of Hg2+ in water samples, test strips and living cells.

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