Pablos Lagartos, Jesús LuisIbeas Cortés, SaturninoMuñoz Santamaría, María AsunciónSerna Arenas, Felipe JoséGarcía García, Félix ClementeGarcía Pérez, José Miguel2024-02-052024-02-052014-03-071381-514810.1016/j.reactfunctpolym.2014.02.009https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/99157This work describes two sensing systems for the detection and quantification of Hg(II): (a) a highly tractable solid polymer membrane, and (b) a gelling system based on a low molecular weight gelator. The preparation of both sensory systems relies on a polymerisable acrylic monomer derived from a fluorene core containing a functional hydroxyimino group, which at the same time is an organogelator with Hg(II)-triggered gelating properties in organic solution. The polymerisation of this monomer with commercial comonomers gave a cross-linked membrane or film, which permitted the detection of Hg(II) using UV/Vis and fluorescence techniques due to the colour and fluorescence changes in response to the interaction of the film with Hg(II). At the same time, organic solutions of the monomer – or gelator – gave a gel upon interacting with Hg(II). Engineering of the gel formation conditions permitted the tuning of the visual detection threshold of the concentration of Hg(II), which ranged from 6 × 10−3 to 1 × 10−2 M in our study, while the membrane permitted the detection by UV/Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy of Hg(II) in organic and organic/aqueous media in the millimolar–micromolar range. Furthermore, the colour and fluorescence changes of the two systems were clearly visible, allowing for the naked-eye detection and broad quantification of milli to micromolar concentrations of Hg(II).engjournal article1873-166Xhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.reactfunctpolym.2014.02.009restricted accessFluorene containing polymerFluorene derivative gelatorFluorene derivative sensorPolymer sensorVisual mercury detectionFluorescence mercury detectionMercury metallogelQuímica23 Química2304 Química Macromolecular