A rapid and naked-eye visible FRET ratiometric fluorescent chemosensor for sensitive detection of toxic BF3

On May 14, 1999, LSI Logic Corporation's Fab in Santa Clara, California experienced a leak of BF3 which was not detected by the Telosense Air Composition Monitoring system. This event lead to a question-the reliability of leak detection techniques currently employed for toxic BF3. In this work, a novel FRET fluorescence chemosensor RN for BF3 has been designed and synthesized conveniently by incorporating rhodamine B and 1, 8-naphthalimide. Compared with other chemosensors, this chemosensor displayed ratiometric fluorescence that can overcome shortcomings of intensity-based fluorescent chemosensors. The ratio (I-586/I-533) of chemosensor RN showed a remarkable increase (21-fold) in less than 1 min and a distinct colour change for naked-eye detection in present BF3. The response of BF3 at this sensor was linear in the wide range of 130-200 mu M with a detection limit of 2.7 x 10(-5) M. This chemosensor also had excellent reversibility. The F-19 NMR and H-1 NMR test were performed to investigate the mechanism of the chemosensor RN towards BF3. Furthermore, we evaluated its feasibility for real-time detection of BF3 in a portable manner. The facts and evidence indicated that this chemosensor had potential applications in industrial production. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.