Covalent organic framework enhanced aggregation-induced emission of berberine and the application for detection

Abstract

In this work, we prepared TaTp-COF, a covalent organic framework material with porous and uniform spheres, by hydrothermally reacting 1,3,5-tris (4-aminophenyl) benzene (TaPb) with terephthalaldehyde (TpTa). TaTp-COF could significantly enhance the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) of berberine (BBR), a natural plant medicine, which was related to the porous structure, the suitable voids, and the hydrogen bonding between TaTp-COF and BBR that could limit the free movement of BBR. The unique emission properties of BBR on TaTp-COF were investigated and used for the sensitive detection of BBR based on the fluorescence intensity of AIE, with a linear range of 10–100 μ mol/L (R2 = 0.9991) and a detection limit of 0.0453 μ;mol/L. Finally, the TaTp-COF was successfully applied to the detection of BBR in real samples, achieving good recoveries and satisfactory relative standard deviations.