ABSTRACT: A novel iridium(III) complex-based probe Ir4-1
has been designed and synthesized conveniently by incorporating
the chemodosimeter into phosphorescent luminophor,
which displayed ratiometric luminescence change from
yellowish-green to reddish-yellow only toward Hg2+ ions in
aqueous media via desulfurization and intramolecular cyclization
with a broad pH range of 5−10. The phosphorescent
chemodosimeter could eliminate effectively the signal
interference from the short-lived fluorescent background, and
the signal-to-noise ratio of the detection was improved distinctly by using time-resolved photoluminescence technique.
Furthermore, the mechanism of phosphoresce change of the chemodosimeter was analyzed in detail by time-dependent density
functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations, and the probe with long-wavelength emission could be applied to label cells and
monitor intracellular Hg2+ effectively by luminescence ratio imaging.