Synthesis of a cyclen-containing disubstituted polyacetylene with strong green photoluminescence and its application as a sensitive chemosensor towards sulfide anion with good selectivity and high sensitivity

Through a postfunctional method, a new disubstituted polyacetylene (P2) bearing cyclen moieties in the side chains, was prepared conveniently and exhibited strong green fluorescence. P2 showed good pH stability in the solution mixture of THF/H2O (v/v 1 : 1), and could report the presence of trace Cu2+ ions at a concentration as low as 1.0 x 10(-7) mol L-1 in diluted solutions, through an on-off mode. By utilizing the displacement strategy, due to the much higher stability constant of the complex of S2- and Cu2+, the quenched fluorescence of P2 by Cu2+ ions could recover upon the addition of trace S-2 anions, with a detection limit down to 2.0(-1) x 10(-7) mol L-1. Excitingly, no interference was observed from other anions, including AcO-, SO32-, HSO3-, HCO3-1, CO32-, I-, Br-1, Cl-, F-, S2O32-, C2O42-, P2O74-, SCN-, HSO4-, SO42-, NO2-, H2PO4-, HPO42-, PO43-, ClO4-, Cr2O2-, S2O82-, IO3-, ClO3-, CN- and NO3-, making P2 a new, sensitive and selective sulfide probe.