IDTI Dyes for Fluoride Anion Chemosensors

Xinqiang Yuan; Xin Shi; Cheng Wang; Yuqian Du; Peng Jiang; Xizhou Jiang; Yongqiang Sui; Xiaoli Hao; Lin Li

doi:10.3389/fchem.2020.591860

IDTI Dyes for Fluoride Anion Chemosensors

Front Chem. 2020 Oct 23:8:591860. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2020.591860. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Xinqiang Yuan¹, Xin Shi¹, Cheng Wang², Yuqian Du², Peng Jiang¹, Xizhou Jiang³, Yongqiang Sui³, Xiaoli Hao¹, Lin Li^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Slag Comprehensive Utilization and Environmental Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Technology, Hanzhong, China.
² Key Laboratory of Rubber-Plastics of Ministry of Education/Shandong Province, School of Polymer Science & Engineering, Qingdao University of Science & Technology, Qingdao, China.
³ Prinx Chengshan (Shan Dong) Tire Co., Ltd., Rongcheng, China.

Abstract

Fluoride anions play a key role in human health and chemical engineering, such as in organic synthesis and biological processes. The development of high-sensitivity naked-eye detection sensors for fluoride anions in organic solutions is crucial and challenging. In this study, (3Z,3'Z)-3,3'-[4,4,9,9-tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)-4,9-dihydro-s-indaceno(1,2-b:5,6-b')dithiophene]-2,7-diylbis(methan-1-yl-1-ylidene) bis(6-bromo-indolin-2-one) (IDTI) was designed and used as a fluoride chemosensor for the first time. IDTI is a highly sensitive fluoride sensor with a detection limit of as low as 1 × 10^-7 M. In addition, upon the reaction of IDTI with fluoride anions in a tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution, color changes from red to yellow under ambient light and from purple to green under UV light were detectable by the naked eye. These studies indicate that IDTI is a promising fluoride chemosensor.

Keywords: IDTI; chemosensors; color changing; fluoride anion; spectroscopy.