Two Fe(iii)/Eu(iii) Salophen complex-based optical sensors for determination of organophosphorus pesticide monocrotophos

Abstract

Monocrotophos (MP), an organophosphorus pesticide, poses a serious threat to human health, so a rapid and simple technique is needed to detect it. In this study, two novel optical sensors for MP detection were created using the Fe(III) Salophen complex and Eu(III) Salophen complex, respectively. One sensor is an Fe(III) Salophen complex (I-N-Sal), which can bind MP selectively and form a supramolecule, resulting in a strong resonance light scattering (RLS) signal at 300 nm. Under the optimum conditions, the detection limit was 30 nM, the linear range was 0.1–1.1 μM, the correlation coefficient R² = 0.9919, and the recovery rate range was 97.0–103.1%. Interaction properties between the sensor I-N-Sal and MP and the RLS mechanism were investigated using density functional theory (DFT). And another sensor is based on the Eu(III) Salophen complex and 5-aminofluorescein derivatives. The Eu(III) Salophen complex was immobilized on the surface of amino-silica gel (Sigel-NH₂) particles as the solid phase receptor (ESS) of MP and 5-aminofluorescein derivatives as the fluorescent (FL)-labeled receptor (N-5-AF) of MP, which can selectively bind the MP and form a sandwich-type supramolecule. Under the optimum conditions, the detection limit was 0.4 μM, the linear range was 1.3–7.0 μM, the correlation coefficient R² = 0.9983, and the recovery rate range was 96.6–101.1%. Interaction properties between the sensor and MP were investigated by UV-vis, FT-IR, and XRD. Both sensors were successfully applied to the determination of MP content in tap water and camellia.