Enhancement of a Catalysis-Based Fluorometric Detection Method for Palladium through Rational Fine-Tuning of the Palladium Species

Metal analyses in chemistry, materials science, and environmental science are currently performed using techniques such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence, which require expensive instrumentation and are not high-throughput. Although fluorescent probes are known for their sensitivity and specificity and are amenable to high-throughput analyses, the robustness of such analyses are typically limited due to their binding-based nature. Herein we report an improvement of our previously reported catalysis-based fluorescent probe for palladium by rationally fine-tuning the redox and coordination chemistries of the palladium species involved in the O-deallylation reaction. This method now rivals current analytical methods with respect to sensitivity. We demonstrate palladium detection in various active pharmaceutical ingredients, spent catalytic converter materials, and a metal scavenger resin. Thus, fluorescent methods may have the potential for substituting the current instrument-intensive techniques.