A novel highly selective probe with both aggregation-induced emission enhancement and intramolecular charge transfer characteristics for CN- detection

A novel fluorescence chemosensor M1 was designed and synthesized through Knoevenagel condensation reaction between 2-(4-naphthalen-1-yl-phenyl)-2H-[1,2,3] triazole-4-carbaldehyde and malononitrile. UV-vis absorption and fluorescence emission spectroscopy found that M1 possessed intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) and aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) properties. Because M1 contained dicyano-vinyl groups which can easily occurred the nucleophilic Michael addition of cyanide anion. So M1 exhibited remarkable selectivity and sensitivity toward CN- with a low detection limitation of 3.91 x 10(-8) M. The mechanism with cyanide anion was systematically studied by H-1 NMR titration experiments and HR-MS. (c) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.