Herein, a novel near-infrared fluorescent probe (Cy-PT) for the detection of Hg²⁺ was designed and synthesized, which contained a hemicyanine skeleton as the near-infrared (NIR) fluorophore and carbonothioate moiety as the recognition unit. The very weak fluorescence of Cy-PT is greatly enhanced due to the destruction of thiocarbonate moiety by Hg²⁺, generating a hydroxyl group. The study shows that Cy-PT exhibits many advantages including NIR emission (708 nm), colorimetric change, off-on fluorescence, remarkably large Stokes shift (120 nm), rapid response, excellent sensitivity and high selectivity. In addition, Cy-PT can be used as a direct visualization detector for Hg2+ detection, allowing further application using test paper. Subsequent fluorescence imaging shows that Cy-PT probe has high ability to enter living cells and bodies, generating strong NIR fluorescence response in the presence of Hg²⁺. This study indicates that Cy-PT probe is a good candidate for Hg²⁺ detection in colorimetric and near-infrared fluorescence, which can be developed into an efficient method for Hg²⁺ detection in complex living samples.

在此，设计并合成了一种新型的用于检测Hg ^2+的近红外荧光探针（Cy-PT），该探针包含半花菁骨架作为近红外（NIR）荧光团，并含有碳硫键部分作为识别单元。Cy-PT的非常弱的荧光由于Hg ²⁺破坏了硫代碳酸盐部分而大大增强了，产生羟基。研究表明，Cy-PT具有许多优点，包括近红外发射（708 nm），比色变化，截止荧光，斯托克斯频移（120 nm）非常大，快速响应，出色的灵敏度和高选择性。此外，Cy-PT可用作Hg2 +检测的直接可视化检测器，从而允许使用试纸进一步应用。随后的荧光成像显示，Cy-PT探针具有进入活细胞和体内的高能力，在Hg ²⁺存在下产生强大的NIR荧光响应。这项研究表明，Cy-PT探针是比色和近红外荧光检测Hg ²⁺的良好候选者，可以发展成为检测Hg ²⁺的有效方法。 检测复杂的活体样品。