A novel colormetric and light-up fluorescent sensor from flavonol derivative grafted cellulose for rapid and sensitive detection of Hg and its applications in biological and environmental system.

Mercury ion (Hg) is one of harmful heavy metal ions that can accumulate inside the human organism and cause some health problems. In the article, a highly effective fluorescent probe named EC-T-PCBM was prepared by grafting flavonol derivatives onto ethyl cellulose for the specific recognition of Hg. EC-T-PCBM exhibited a remarkable fluorescence light-up response toward Hg with excellent sensitivity. EC-T-PCBM possessed several prominent sensing properties for Hg, such as low detection limit (43.9 nM), short response time (5 min), and wide detection pH range (6-9). The response mechanism of EC-T-PCBM to Hg has been verified through H NMR titration and DFT computation. Additionally, EC-T-PCBM not only can be used for accurately determining trace amount of Hg in actual environmental water samples, but also can serve as a portable and rapid device by loading it on test strips for sensitive and selective visualization of Hg. More importantly, the confocal fluorescence imaging of onion cells suggested the favorable cell membrane permeability of EC-T-PCBM and its prominent ability to continuously monitor the enrichment from Hg within fresh plant tissues.