Simple immobilization of mercury ion chemosensors to solid substrate

Abstract

To develop selective and disposable mercury chemosensors, four different mercury chelators were synthesized and grafted onto cellulose filter paper. Three colorimetric sensors were azobenzene derivatives bearing a dithiaazadioxo crown ether moiety as a core chelator for Hg2+ ions. The fourth chelator was a rhodamine-based turn-on mercury binder that responded to both methylmercury and Hg2+ ions. This sensor develops the typical pink color of rhodamine (colorimetric) and exhibits strong fluorescence (fluorometric). For paper immobilization, the cellulose filter paper was first primed with 3-(aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APTMS) so that all the four ligands were covalently immobilized, simply by soaking them in each solution. ⓒ 2017 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry