Small-molecule fluorescent chemosensors for Hg²⁺ ion

Fluorometric determination techniques for mercury (Hg²⁺) assays have been very popular in recent years. This review focuses mainly on advances in the field of fluorescent sensors, concerning the detection of Hg²⁺ ion, that have been developed over the last few years. Based on a difference among the bearing functional fluorophores, these works are divided into two major sections. In the first section, rhodamine-derived Hg²⁺ ion sensors have been reviewed according to the essential mechanisms that work together with the spirolactam ring opening reaction. Various fluorescence Hg²⁺ ion sensors based on other functional fluorophores are discussed in the second section, divided by their recognition mechanisms that used for the signal responses. 2009