Luminescent coordination polymer–fullerene composite as a highly sensitive and selective optical detector for 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP)

Abstract

Highly sensitive and selective detection of TNP by a coordination polymer–fullerene (C₆₀) composite assembly has been reported through luminescence quenching and shifting of the major emissive centre. The composite assembly shows high sensitivity even in very low concentration regions towards the detection of TNP with K_SV (quenching constant based on a linear Stern–Volmer plot) value of 37.5 × 10⁴ M⁻¹, which is the highest value known for any luminescence based selective TNP detector reported to date. The selectivity of TNP detection has been achieved in the presence of other nitroaromatics such as 1,3-dinitro benzene (1,3-DNB), 1,4-dinitro benzene (1,4-DNB), 2,4-dinitro toluene (DNT), 4-nitrotoluene (NT) and nitrobenzene (NB) and common metal ions such as Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Fe³⁺.