Water-soluble fluorescent probe for multiple ions detection based on different pH moderation

Abstract

Abstract Cyanide and bisulfite are hypertoxic even in low concentration. The development of convenient methods of the detection of analyte is critically important. In this paper, the dual ions fluorescent probe CIM with superior water-solubility has been designed and synthesized with low detection limits of 0.35\u202fμM (for CN− with a linear relationship of 0.996) and 23\u202fnM (for HSO3− with a linear relationship of 0.993). Modest pH moderation could be easily used to detect the CN− and HSO3− without reciprocal interference. The specific detection is not interfered with other potential coexisted species. The possible recognition mechanism between probe and analytes is illustrated by NMR, HRMS and computational simulation. Both analytes undergo 1, 4-addition reaction on the ethenyl of the probe, which is rare in lots of previous work and results in a fluorescent color change.