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Isatin functionalized nanoporous SBA-15 as a selective fluorescent probe for the detection of Hg(II) in water

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Abstract

A highly ordered mesoporous silica material functionalized with isatin (SBA-Pr-IS) was designed and synthesized. Characterization techniques including XRD, TGA, BET, SEM, and FT-IR were employed to characterize the pore structure, textural properties, microscopic morphology, and molecular composition of grafted organic moieties of SBA-Pr-IS. The successful attachment of the organic moiety (0.34 mmol g−1) without the SBA-15 structure collapsing after the modification steps was confirmed. Fluorescence characterization of SBA-Pr-IS was examined upon addition of a wide variety of cations in aqueous medium and it showed high sensitivity toward Hg2+ ions. During testing in an ion competition experiment, it was observed that the fluorescence changes of the probe were remarkably specific for Hg2+ ions. Furthermore, a good linearity between the fluorescence intensity of this material and the concentration of Hg2+ ions was constructed with a suitable detection limit of 3.7 × 10−6 M. Finally, the applicability of the proposed method was successfully evaluated for the determination of Hg2+ ions in real samples. Therefore, SBA-Pr-IS can be used as an efficient fluorescence probe for Hg2+ ions.

A novel organic-inorganic hybrid material was designed and synthesized by functionalization of SBA-15 mesoporous silica material with isatin. The evaluation of the sensing ability of SBA-Pr-IS using fluorescence spectroscopy revealed that the SBA-Pr-IS was a selective fluorescent probe for Hg2+ ion in water in the presence of a wide range of metal cations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the research council of the University of Tehran for financial support.

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Tehran, 16th Azar St., Enghelab Sq., 1417466191, Tehran, Iran

    Negar Lashgari & Alireza Badiei

  2. Nanobiomedicine Center of Excellence, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research Center, University of Tehran, 16th Azar St., Enghelab Sq., 1417466191, Tehran, Iran

    Alireza Badiei

  3. Department of Chemistry, Alzahra University, 1993891176, Tehran, Iran

    Ghodsi Mohammadi Ziarani

  4. Center of Excellence in Electrochemistry, School of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Tehran, 16th Azar St., Enghelab Sq., 1417466191, Tehran, Iran

    Farnoush Faridbod

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  1. Negar Lashgari
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Lashgari, N., Badiei, A., Mohammadi Ziarani, G. et al. Isatin functionalized nanoporous SBA-15 as a selective fluorescent probe for the detection of Hg(II) in water. Anal Bioanal Chem 409, 3175–3185 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0258-1

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