Sensitive detection of picric acid in an aqueous solution using fluorescent nonconjugated polymer dots as fluorescent probes

Jinshui Liu; Ting Fu; Chenfu Liu; Fangfei Wu; Huaxin Wang

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ac04d1

Sensitive detection of picric acid in an aqueous solution using fluorescent nonconjugated polymer dots as fluorescent probes

Nanotechnology. 2021 Jun 11;32(35). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac04d1.

Authors

Jinshui Liu¹, Ting Fu¹, Chenfu Liu², Fangfei Wu¹, Huaxin Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing, The Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids, Ministry of Education, Anhui Laboratory of Molecule-based Materials, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, People's Republic of China.
² School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou 341000, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 34034241
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac04d1

Abstract

Nonconjugated polymer dots (NPDs) were successfully used as fluorescent probes to selectively and sensitively detect picric acid (PA). The NPDs were prepared from polyethylenimine and 1,4-phthalaldehyde under mild conditions and had excitation and emission maxima of 351 and 474 nm, respectively. Fluorescence of the NPDs was efficiently quenched by PA through the inner filter effect because of the overlapping PA absorption band and NPD excitation spectrum. The NPDs allowed PA to be determined with a high degree of sensitivity. The linear range was 0-140μM and the detection limit was 0.5μM. The work involved developing a novel method for synthesizing NPDs and a promising platform for determining PA in environmental media.

Keywords: 1; 4-phthalaldehyde; fluorescent polymer dots; picric acid; polyethylenimine.