Molecular phosphonic acid-tethered tetraphenylethene AIEgen based highly selective fluorescent turn-on sensor for neomycin

We demonstrated highly selective and sensitive tetraphenylethene -tetraphosphonic acids for the facile detection of aminoglycoside antibiotic neomycin for the first time. Neomycin was found to effectively induce aggregate formation of (4-(1,2,2-tris(4-phosphonophenyl)vinyl)phenyl)phosphonic acid octasodium salt (TPPE) in aqueous solution. The aggregation-induced emission (AIE) response of TPPE was realized upon addition of neomycin in Milli-Q water at pH 7. The detection mechanism relies on electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions. The TPPE-based sensor system exhibited a detection limit 2.088 x 10-10 M of neomycin. Further, we demonstrate use of TPPE system for visual detection of neomycin as thin layer chromatography (TLC) sensor to develop kits for real world applications.

Automated summary

This study demonstrated the highly selective and sensitive detection of aminoglycoside antibiotic neomycin using tetraphenylethene-tetraphosphonic acids for the first time. The detection mechanism relies on electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions, with a detection limit of 2.088 x 10-10 M. The TPPE-based sensor system can be used for visual detection of neomycin as thin layer chromatography (TLC) sensor for real world applications.