Issue 16, 2018, Issue in Progress

A single nanofluorophore “turn on” probe for highly sensitive visual determination of environmental fluoride ions

Abstract

Herein, we report a single nanofluorophore “off–on” probe based on the unique fluoride–boron interaction to achieve the visual determination of fluoride ions in environmental water. Red quantum dots (QDs) were modified using 3-aminophenylboronic acid (APBA) to form a stable standard emission probe, and reaction of the probe with catechol formed a five-membered cyclic borate ester, which led to the quenching of the fluorescence emission. The designed nanofluorophore probe showed a turn-on effect in the presence of fluoride ions due to the five-membered cyclic borate ester being transformed into a trifluoroborate, with breakage of the B–O bonds and removal of the catechol from the QDs. The prepared nanofluorophore probe displayed a high sensitivity for the quantification of fluoride ions with a naked eye visual detection limit of 0.4 μM, which was much lower than the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defined limit (37 μM). Furthermore, the probe displayed an effective application for the detection of fluoride ions in environmental samples such as tap water and lake water. The very simple method reported here could be extended to the visual detection of a wide range of analysis assays in natural samples.

Graphical abstract: A single nanofluorophore “turn on” probe for highly sensitive visual determination of environmental fluoride ions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Dec 2017
Accepted
14 Feb 2018
First published
27 Feb 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2018,8, 8688-8693

A single nanofluorophore “turn on” probe for highly sensitive visual determination of environmental fluoride ions

Y. Li, Q. Sun, L. Su, L. Yang, J. Zhang, L. Yang, B. Liu, C. Jiang and Z. Zhang, RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 8688 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA13601C

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