Synthesis and application of a novel reactive Coumarin-derived probe for the determination of Hg2+ in real samples

A novel reactive fluorescent probe 6-(bis(butylthio)methyl)-7-hydroxy-4,8-dimethylcoumarin (L) has been synthesized from 2-methylresorcinol. The structure was characterized by NMR, ESI-MS and elemental analysis. The fluorescence intensity of the probe was very strong in solution, but the fluorescence is quenched after adding Hg2+ to the reaction. Ultraviolet–visible absorption spectrum and fluorescence emission were used to test the probe L in identifying Hg2+. The results show that in the pH range of 4 to 9, the probe exhibited high selectivity, high senstivity and antiinterference, the limit of detection as low as 23.09 × 10-9 mol/L, which has good application prospects for the rapid dection of mercury ions in real samples.