Light‐Emitting Conjugated Organic Polymer as an Efficient Fluorescent Probe for Cu2+ Ions Detection and Cell Imaging

Abstract

AbstractConjugated organic polymers (COPs) have been excellent candidates because the conjugated structure occupied π structure that is useful to develop light‐emitting materials. However, most COPs emitt weak luminescence owing to the H‐aggregation effect. Light‐emitting conjugated organic polymers (LCOP‐1) possess rich butyl groups anchored in the skeleton to enhance light‐emitting activity via reducing the H‐aggregation effect. Owing to abundant hydroxyl and nitrogen atoms, LCOP‐1 exhibits high sensitivity, selectivity, and fast response to Cu2+ ions within 1 min in comparison with the cations of Na+, Mg2+, Al3+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Ni2+, Cr3+, Hg2+, Fe3+, Fe2+, Pb2+, Co2+, etc. The detection limit can be down to nanomolar. Moreover, the sensor exhibits detection toward Cu2+ ions via a naked eye colorful change from pale‐yellow to yellowish‐brown. Furthermore, the light‐emitting probe also successfully achieves the detection of Cu2+ ions in cells without cytotoxicity, indicating its great potentials in biological function.