Catechol Moiety Integrated Tri-Aryl Type AIEgen for Visual and Quantitative Boronic Acid Detection

Area of Science:

• * Materials Chemistry
• * Analytical Chemistry
• * Supramolecular Chemistry

Background:

• * Aggregation-Induced Emission (AIE) luminogens offer unique optical properties.
• * Boronic acids are crucial analytes in various fields, requiring sensitive detection methods.
• * Developing efficient probes for boronic acid detection remains an active research area.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To design and synthesize a novel functional AIEgen for boronic acid detection.
• * To establish a real-time, visual, and quantitative dual-mode sensing strategy.
• * To investigate the sensing mechanism and explore its application in high-throughput screening and solid-state sensing.

Main Methods:

• * Synthesis of a tri-aryl type luminogen (TA-Catechol) incorporating a catechol moiety.
• * Spectroscopic studies (fluorescence, UV-Vis) to monitor the response to boronic acids.
• * Mechanistic investigations to identify key intermediates in the sensing process.
• * Evaluation of the sensing performance, including detection limit and precision.
• * Demonstration of solid-state sensing capabilities.

Main Results:

• * Successful synthesis of the TA-Catechol AIEgen.
• * Rapid and distinct visual/quantitative response of TA-Catechol to various boronic acids.
• * Establishment of a dual-mode detection method with a low detection limit (8.0 μM).
• * Identification of tetra-coordinated boronic species as the sensing intermediate.
• * Demonstrated compatibility with a wide range of organic boronic acids and solid-state sensing.

Conclusions:

• * TA-Catechol serves as an effective AIEgen for sensitive and selective boronic acid detection.
• * The developed dual-mode sensing strategy is rapid, visual, and quantitative.
• * The mechanistic understanding provides insights into the sensing process.
• * The probe shows significant potential for high-throughput screening and practical solid-state sensing applications.