Recent progress in fluorescence-based chemosensing of pesticides

Abstract

Poisoning of agricultural products through the use of pesticides has created a high risk to the environment and human health. In recent years, substantial research has been devoted to replacing harmful chemical pesticides with naturally derived organic compounds and the safer detection of pernicious pesticide residues by selective and sensitive methods using suitable sensor systems has also been given equal priority. Among various sensing methods that are currently available, fluorescence-based sensing has acquired widespread acceptance and become a feasible technique for the trace analysis of pesticide residues due to several practical advantages. In this review article, we provide a systematic overview of the recent progress made in using fluorescence-based chemosensing of different classes of pesticides and their success in real-world applications. Various fluorescence chemosensors highlighted in this article are categorized based on their sensing propensity for a particular class of pesticides. In the initial section of the article, we have highlighted a detailed discussion on the classification of pesticides, and various methods available for pesticide detection, and the later sections report various chemosensors reported to date for sensing different classes of pesticides. Finally, we put forward a short discussion on the advantages and existing practical difficulties in employing fluorescent chemosensors for pesticide detection and also state the future perspective of this field toward developing practically useful sensing systems.