A fluorescent probe for distinguish detection of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde

A new fluorescent chemosensor DTH for distinguish detection formaldehyde (FA) and acetaldehyde (AA) has been synthesized based on 2, 5-dihydroxy-p-benzenedicarbonamide as fluorophore and hydrazine as reaction group. DTH is a ratiometric probe for formaldehyde with fluorescence quantum yield is 0.055 and a turn on probe for acetaldehyde with a higher fluorescence quantum yield (0.122) due to different electron donating property of -H (formaldehyde) and -CH3 group (acetaldehyde), FA-DTH and AA-DTH, which were products of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde with DTH, respectively, showed different fluorescence variation. Interestingly, the maximum fluorescence emission peak wavelength varies with different molar ratio of the mixture solution of FA/AA and it was found that the wavelength is linear with the molar ratio of FA/AA, demonstrating that DTH fluorescence probe can be used not only to distinguish detect formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, but also to analyze the approximate content of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in the mixed solution. Therefore, DTH is an excellent probe, which is expected to be applied in cells and distinguish detection of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in the environment.