The fluorescence of a mercury probe based on osthol.

The ability of osthol (OST) to recognize mercury ions in aqueous solution was studied using fluorescence, UV-vis spectrophotometry, mass spectrometry, and 1H NMR spectroscopy, and the recognition mechanism is discussed. The results showed that OST and Hg2+ can form a complex with a stoichiometric ratio of 1:1. The binding constant was 1.552 × 105 L∙mol-1, having a highly efficient and specific selectivity for Hg2+. The fluorescence intensity of OST showed a good linear correlation with the Hg2+ concentration (6.0 × 10-5 to 24.0 × 10-5 mol∙L-1, R 2 = 0.9954), and the detection limit of the probe was 5.04 × 10-8 mol∙L-1, which can be used for the determination of Hg2+ traces.