Enhanced sensing ability of fluorescent chemosensors with triphenylamine-functionalized conjugated polyfluorene

Ruey Shin Juang, Hua Wen Wen, Meng Tsz Chen, Po Chih Yang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper reports the multifunctional responsive fluorescence chemosensory phenomena of two terpyridine-functionalized conjugated polyfluorenes (PFs), poly[2,7-(9,9-dihexylfluorene)-alt-4′-((4-[N,N-(4-phenyl)amino]styryl)phenyl)-2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine] (P1) and poly[2,7-(9,9-dihexylfluorene)-alt-4′-phenyl-2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine] (P2), which were exposed to solvents, metal ions, and protons through Suzuki polymerization. Compared with P2, P1 exhibited enhanced sensing ability that resulted from efficient interactions between the specific triphenylamine-linked terpyridine units with protons and metal ions. P1 and P2 both showed high sensitivity toward Cu2+, with the Stern-Volmer constants of 2.30 × 105 M-1 and 1.05 × 105 M-1, respectively. Because of the very high stability constants of the CN--Cu2+ complexes, the fluorescence of P1 and P2 solutions that were quenched by Cu2+ recovered upon addition of trace CN-, with a detection limit as low as 3.7 × 10-6 M-1 and 5.2 × 10-6 M-1 for P1 and P2, respectively. P1 showed fluorescence quenching when pH decreased from 5.0 to 1.0; however, a pH of 13.0 had little effect on fluorescence intensity. Our results suggest that P1 is a promising material for chemosensory applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)399-411
Number of pages13
JournalSensors and Actuators, B: Chemical
Volume231
DOIs
StatePublished - 01 08 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Chemosensor
  • Conjugated polymer
  • Terpyridine
  • Triphenylamine

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