Abstract
Fluoride recognition and sensing via artificial receptors have attracted a great deal of attention since it plays an important and indispensable role in biological and environmental processes. Herein, a novel colorimetric and fluorescent chemodosimeter (3-triisopropylsilylflavone 1) based on 3-hydroxyflavone framework has been rationally designed and synthesized for selective recognition towards fluoride. As confirmed by UV–vis and fluorescence techniques, the fluorescent probe 1 exhibited a highly sensitive and selective as well as rapidly responsive (20 s) recognition towards fluoride with a large Stokes shift of 180 nm. The detection limit was deduced to be 0.68 μM, which is much lower than the limit concentration level in drinking water specified by USEPA. The distinctive sensing mechanism is attributed to fluoride-triggered desilylation reaction on the cleavage of SiO bonds, leading to the strong excited-state intramolecular proton transfer emission of 3-hydroxyflavone. In addition, test strips experiment based on the sensor demonstrated the excellently practical feasibility of 1 to sense fluoride even in ppm level. Moreover, the probe is cell permeable and can be capable of reliably detecting fluoride in living cells.
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