文摘
The investigation of mercuric ion and mercuric conjugate inside live specimens has drawnintense attention because of their cytotoxicity. The translocation, transportation, and distribution of Hg2+ inside either mammals or plants, however, are still invisible due to the lack offavorable fluorescent molecular sensors for Hg2+. Here, two sensors, 2,6-bis(4'-peperazino-N'-hydroxylethoxylethylene-1',8'-naphthalimide)dimethylpyridine and 2,6-bis(4'-peperazino-N'-butyl-1',8'-naphthalimide)dimethylpyridine, which were composed of nitrogen atoms of 2,6-bis(aminomethyl)pyridine as the ion receptor and the donor of photoinduced electron transfer,were applied to the cultured mammalian cells and plant cells. Their membrane permeability,low toxicity, slow bleaching/fading, and high selectivity and sensitivity to Hg2+ in a live cellrendered them attractive to become real-time and real-space sensors. For the first time, thetransportation of Hg2+ cation and Hg2+ conjugate of cysteine was observed with the help of afluorescence microscope. The chloroplast location of Hg2+ in transgenic tobacco was also visible.