Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 30, 2026

A Study of the Complexation of MercuryII with Dicysteinyl Tetrapeptides by Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry
Published on: January 8, 2016
A sulfur-free iridium(III) complex for highly selective and multi-signaling mercury(II)-chemosensors
Hong-Tao Cao1, Lei Ding2, Guo-Gang Shan2
1Institute of Functional Material Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024 Jilin, People's Republic of China. shangg187@nenu.edu.cn sunhz335@nenu.edu.cn zmsu@nenu.edu.cn and Center for Molecular Systems and Organic Devices (CMSOD), Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics & Information Displays (KLOEID), Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications, Nanjing 210046, P. R. China.
Abstract:
A sulfur-free iridium(III) complex (pbi)2Ir(mtpy) (1) was successfully prepared and adopted as a Hg(II)-chemosensor with high selectivity and sensitivity. Multi-signaling responses towards Hg(II) ions were observed by UV-vis absorption, phosphorescence and electrochemistry measurements. With addition of Hg(II) ions, complex 1 presented quenched emission in its phosphorescence spectrum and the detection limit was as low as 2.5 × 10(-7) M. Additionally, its redox peak currents showed a broad linear relationship with the concentration of Hg(II) ions ranging from 0 to 500 μM, which was beneficial for the quantitative detection. Based on the (1)H NMR and ESI-MS analyses, the probing mechanism was tentatively supposed to be the Hg(2+)-induced changes in the local environment of complex 1. Such a response process was useful for achieving simple and effective detection of Hg(II) ions as well as developing more chemosensors.
Related Concept Videos
Formation of Complex Ions
Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution: Fluorination and Iodination of Benzene
Oxymercuration-Reduction of Alkenes

