Mercury (Hg) is one of the most harmful and toxic chemical pollutants, which is released into the environment through natural or industrial sources. This dangerous heavy metal has the ability to enter the food chain and accumulate in organisms causing serious damage to health, and even death in cases of severe mercury poisoning. Conventional analytical methods to detect mercury in water require expensive instrumentation and a long measuring time. Here, we describe easy methods for selective naked-eye detection of mercury (II) in water.

Fig. 1.

The half-lantern dinuclear complexes [{Pt(bzq)(μ-C₇H₄NS₂-κN,S)}₂] (A) and [{Pt(bzq)(μ-C₇H₄NOS-κN,S)}₂] (B) [bzq = benzo[h]quinolinate, C₇H₄NS₂ = 2-mercaptobenzothiazolate, C₇H₄NOS = 2-mercaptobenzoxazolate] (Fig. 1a) show a yellowish-orange color in solution and intense red phosphorescence upon excitation with ultraviolet light (l= 365 nm). Absorption and emission colors are due to transitions involving excited states (^1,3MMLCT) generated by Pt···Pt interaction between two platinum centers located in close proximity.

In these complex molecules the higher filled s* orbital is oriented outward along the Pt-Pt axis and is expected to be able to interact with a Lewis acid such as Hg²⁺and other metal cations (Mⁿ⁺) with resulting changes in their color and emission energies.

Fig. 2.

Experimentally we observed that A and B could be used for selective naked-eye detection of Hg²⁺ in water at low concentration. The reason for this is that solutions of A and B in DMSO (5 ml, 2 x 10^-4 M) experience a dramatic color change from yellowish-orange to purple (Fig. 1a) and the loss of luminescence (Figure 1b) upon addition of a small volume of a diluted aqueous solution of Hg²⁺ (0,5 mL, 0.01 M). Other ions, such as Ag⁺, Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Ba²⁺, Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺, Zn²⁺and  Tl⁺, were tested in the same way considering their toxicity or abundance in natural water.  Unlike Hg²⁺ none of them caused any changes in the optical properties of A and B solutions nor interference in the selective detection of Hg²⁺ in water, even when they were present in great excess (up to 50 :1). These diluted solutions of A/B in DMSO can detect the presence of Hg²⁺ in water even at concentrations as low as 2 × 10⁻⁶ M (A) or 5 × 10⁻⁵ M (B).

Furthermore, test strips were prepared by immersing filter paper in a solution of A/ B in DMSO (2 x 10^-4 M) and drying in an oven.  These dry test strips show a discernible change of color from light-orange to purple and loss of luminescence when they are immersed in an aqueous solution containing Hg²⁺ in a concentration as low as 5 × 10⁻⁵ M for A and 1 × 10⁻⁵ M for B (Fig. 2), making complexes A and B good candidates for use as real-time Hg²⁺ sensors.

The change of color and the quenching of the intense phosphorescence of diluted solutions of A/ B in DMSO, caused by the presence of small amounts of Hg²⁺,are easily observed by the naked eye and are also observable spectroscopically. The presence of Hg²⁺causes the emergence of two absorption bands instead of one in the UV-vis spectra of these solutions at λ > 450 nm (λ_max = 467 nm, 554 nm A; λ_max = 460 nm, 557 nm, B) and the disappearance of phosphorescence (l_max ~ 665 nm), with detection limits in the order of 10^-5 Molar. The metal ions Ag⁺, Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Ba²⁺, Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Tl⁺ showed no interference in the selective detection of Hg²⁺ in water, even when present in great excess.

Violeta Sicilia, Pilar Borja, Miguel Baya and José M. Casas
Instituto de Síntesis Química y Catálisis Homogénea (ISQCH)
CSIC – Universidad de Zaragoza, Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Escuela de Ingeniería y Arquitectura de Zaragoza
Zaragoza, Spain

Publication

Selective turn-off phosphorescent and colorimetric detection of mercury(II) in water by half-lantern platinum(II) complexes.
Sicilia V, Borja P, Baya M, Casas JM.
Dalton Trans. 2015 Apr 21

Read offline:     

Related Articles:

	If you are cold, what two cold-sensitive ion… Human and animals are capable of perceiving temperature stimuli due to the presence in the body of specialized sensory neurons in the peripheral and central nervous system. The sense of…
	Feedback between organisms and the environment shape… How does the environment shape biodiversity? This is a central question for both the scientific understanding of ecosystems and for practical initiatives in sustainability. Previous work has shown that a…
	Emerald Ash Borer attacks trees revealing early… The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, is a major global forest pest (a buprestid beetle) that has decimated ash trees (Fraxinus species) throughout Europe and Asia. Since this nonnative…
	Edible coating for enhancing the shelf life of… Preserving food, especially horticulture products, is one of the most difficult farm work. The global community has highlighted this problem and set a target of halving per-capita food waste by…
	Small waterbodies as indicators of elemental… The impact of urbanization and industrialization on sediment quality of large rivers and lakes have been widely studied globally, however, small waterbodies, such as ponds and canals, are rarely studied…
	Fast and simple glyphosate detection using a… Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide worldwide. It is used since the 1970s to dispose of weeds to increase yield. Since some years its use is under great debate…