A polyanionic dendritic fluorophore for selective detection of Hg2+ in Triton X-100 aqueous media.

A series of water-soluble fluorescent dendritic compounds composed of phenylene-ethynylene repeating units and anionic carboxylate or cationic ammonium peripheral groups were synthesized. The first generation fluorescent dendrimer containing nine phenylene-ethynylene units and six carboxylate peripheral groups exhibited a highly selective fluorescence quenching by Hg(2+) ions. The Stern-Volmer constant (K(sv)) was 33,700 M(-1) in aqueous media in the presence of Triton X-100 surfactant.