Aggregation-induced emission polydithioacetals with pendant tetraphenylethylene groups for Hg2+ detection and removal†

The development of responsive polymers with the ability to detect and quantitatively separate toxic ions is a challenge for chemical research. Combined with the excellent fluorescence performance of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) tetraphenylethylene (TPE) in the aggregation state and the high selectivity of dithioacetal groups to Hg²⁺, a versatile one-pot polycondensation strategy was utilized to construct amphiphilic AIE polydithioacetal PTA–TPE containing dithioacetal units in the main chain for the detection and removal of Hg²⁺ in aqueous solutions. PTA–TPE showed high selectivity and sensitivity to Hg²⁺ with a detection limit of 10.81 nM in aqueous PBS buffer (pH 7.4). Moreover, PTA–TPE removed Hg²⁺ from aqueous 1.0 ppm Hg²⁺ solution with removal rates over 80.0% in both acidic and alkaline media. The maximum adsorption at low concentrations of Hg²⁺ was 124.3 mg g⁻¹. Therefore, this amphiphilic fluorescence polymer can be applied not only to detect Hg²⁺, but also to separate and remove mercury from water environments.