A multifunctional metal-organic complex fluorescent probe for highly sensitive detection of lysine, CrO 42-/Cr 2 O 7 2-, Fe3+and nitro-aromatic compounds

Water contamination caused by organic and inorganic compounds represents an urgent global issue. It is meaningful to detect these compounds. A metal-organic complex (Zn-HTBA) was investigated as a multifunctional fluorescent probe which showed exceptional fluorescence characteristics. The Zn- HTBA can specifically detect lysine in water through fluorescence enhancement, and the detection limit was 0.17 mu M. The Zn-HTBA also selectively detect CrO42-/Cr2O72-and Fe3+ with the detection limits of 0.014/0.022 and 0.12 mu M through fluorescence quenching. In addition, the Zn-HTBA was found to sensitively detect nitroaromatic compounds in ethanol through fluorescence quenching. The possible detection mechanisms were studied in detail through UV-Vis, PXRD, XPS, etc. The mechanism of Zn-HTBA to detect CrO42-/Cr2O72-, Fe3+ and 2-nitrotoluene was energy competition, and the mechanism of Zn-HTBA to detect lysine was the formation of hydrogen bonds.