Thiadiazole-based turn-on fluorescent chemosensor for AcO− and its application in environmental systems and in bioimaging

Abstract

A novelty chemosensor MM to detect AcO − was designed, synthesized and characterized. When MM interacted with AcO − , it was found that the new fluorescent emission peak at 616 nm arose. Meanwhile, the color change of the solution was directly observed by the naked-eye. Interesting, other anions could not cause any interference, specially F − , H 2 PO 4 − and PO 4 3−. The possible interaction mode between them was confirmed based on the Job's plot, 1 H NMR titration, ESI-MS, SEM analysis and DFT calculation. And LOD (limit of detection) of MM toward AcO − was 4.6 nM. Moreover, MM could be utilized as test strips to identify AcO − qualitatively. It's more important that MM could realize to detect AcO − in tap water quantitatively, rapidly and on-site by used of smartphone APP. Furthermore, MM was successfully applied to detect AcO − in living Caenorhabditis elegans. And it also demonstrated its potential bioimaging in living system.