Design and Synthesis of a Zn2+ Fluorescent Probe Based on Aggregation Induced Luminescence Properties

In this paper, a novel aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect Zn2+ fluorescent probe L was constructed with aggregation-induced emission (AIE), tetraphenylethylene as the fluorescent group and 5-tert-butyl-2-hydroxybenzene as the recognition group. The structure of probe L was characterized by NMR and ESI-MS, and its fluorescence properties was studied by UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. In ethanol/phosphate (PBS) (V:V=7:3, pH=7.4) solution, the probe L exhibited fluorescence-enhanced high selectivity and sensitivity detection of Zn2+, the detection limit was 34.1 nmol center dot L-1. In the range of 0 similar to 3.0x10(-5) mol center dot L-1, the probe showed a good linear relationship to Zn2+. The obvious color change can be observed with the naked eye under UV light and natural light, which can realize the visual detection of Zn2+. The response mechanism of the probe to Zn2+ was studied by Job's plot, ESI-MS and density functional theory (DFT) theoretical calculation. The novel probe reported in this paper can serve as a convenient tool for the analytical determination of Zn2+.