Discriminative detection of mercury (II) and hydrazine using a dual-function fluorescent probe

A dual-function fluorescent probe (Probe 1) was developed for discriminative detection of Hg²⁺ and N₂ H₄ . Probe 1 could discriminatively detect Hg²⁺ and N₂ H₄ through two different reaction sites, with the mechanism for Probe 1 for Hg²⁺ depending on a desulfurization reaction and for N₂ H₄ depending on the Schiff-base reaction. N₂ H₄ had minimal effect on Hg²⁺ detection in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/H₂ O solution, but Hg²⁺ could interfere with N₂ H₄ detection in DMSO/buffer solution. Different concentrations of Hg²⁺ and N₂ H₄ resulted in different blue shades of Probe 1 test strips, and the shade of blue was different with the same concentration of Hg²⁺ or N₂ H₄ , as observed under ultraviolet light at 365 nm wavelength.