Room-Temperature Phosphorescent Discrimination of Catechol from Resorcinol and Hydroquinone Based on Sodium Tripolyphosphate Capped Mn-Doped ZnS Quantum Dots

A room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) strategy was developed for direct, additive-free discrimination of catechol from resorcinol and hydroquinone based on sodium tripolyphosphate capped Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots (STPP-Mn-ZnS QDs). The RTP response of STPP-Mn-ZnS QDs to the three isomers was pH-dependent, and the greatest difference in the RTP response to the isomers was observed at pH 8.0: catechol enhanced the RTP intensity of the QDs, while resorcinol and hydroquinone had little effect on the RTP intensity of the QDs. The enhanced RTP intensity of 1 mu M catechol was not affected by the coexistence of 30 mu M resorcinol and 50 mu M hydroquinone at pH 8.0. The detection limit of this RTP method was 53 nM catechol, and the precision was 3.2% (relative standard deviation) for five replicate detections of 1 mu M catechol. The discrimination mechanism was ascribed to the weak bonded ligand of STPP-Mn-ZnS QDs and the different interaction between the three isomers and STPP-Mn-ZnS QDs. The strong binding of catechol to Zn resulted in the extraction of Zn from the surface of STPP-Mn-ZnS QDs and the generation of holes that were trapped by Mn2+ to form Mn3+. Catechol also promoted the reduction of Mn3+ into Mn2+ excited state, thus ultimately inducing the enhanced RTP response of STPP-Mn-ZnS QDs.