Triarylboron-based fluorescent probe exhibiting simultaneous turn-on/turn off color-tunable emission for the highly sensitive detection of fluoride ion

Triarylboron/acridine hybrids bearing donor-acceptor structures were designed and synthesized. After simply modifying the acridine with additional phenyl groups, the novel compound was utilized as fluorescent probe for the detection of fluoride ion. The original green emission was quenched and intense deep-blue emission emerged simultaneously when reacted with F-. According to the DFT calculation result, the deep-blue emission originates from the phenyl modified DMAc groups that expand the pi conjugate system of electronic delocalization. Based on the fluorescence spectra intensity variation of deepblue emission with different concertation of F-, the detection limit of the probe is approximately 10(-8) M, which is decreased by two orders of magnitude compared with that of the non-phenyl group modified counterpart. The turn off/turn on property endows the probe with high sensitivity, good selectivity and reversibility. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Triarylboron/acridine hybrids with donor-acceptor structures were designed and synthesized. By modifying the acridine with additional phenyl groups, a novel compound was used as a fluorescent probe for detecting fluoride ion. The modified compound exhibited intense deep-blue emission when reacted with F-. The deep-blue emission originates from the phenyl modified DMAc groups, which expands the pi conjugate system.