A novel cationic triazatetrabenzcorrole: selective detection of mercury(II) by nucleic acid-induced aggregation

In the present work, a novel water-soluble cationic triazatetrabenzcorrole compound was synthesised. Its aggregation and fluorescence quenching properties are demonstrated by serval methods, such as UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopic studies and naked-eye visualization. Unlike the traditional Hg2+ sensor based on thymine-Hg2+-thymine, we use a novel approach, exploiting the high affinity of Hg2+ for sulfur in phosphorothioate DNA. Based on the S-Hg2+-S pairs, we designed the phosphorothioate DNA T4G4-S3 as an Hg2+ sensor, which can detect Hg2+ sensitively and selectively in aqueous solution. And this sensing system is fairly fast and convenient.