Fluorescence detection of hydrazine in an aqueous environment by a corrole derivative

Broadly, the industrial applications of hydrazine cause environmental pollution and damage to living organisms because of the high toxicity of hydrazine. Therefore, monitoring hydrazine in the environmental system is of great significance to human health. Here, a new fluorescent probe PC-N₂ H₄ based on corrole dye was developed for the detection of hydrazine that had excellent specificity, low limit of detection (LOD: 88 nM), and a wide pH range (6-12). Upon addition of hydrazine into the probe solution, the strong red fluorescence was 'turned on' centred at 653 nm with a 127-fold fluorescence intensity enhancement. The detection mechanism was proved using ESI-MS, ¹ H NMR, and density functional theoretical calculations. Importantly, the probe was utilized to fabricate a ready-to-use test strip to realize the visual inspection of hydrazine. Furthermore, PC-N₂ H₄ was successfully applied for practical detection of hydrazine in water samples with satisfactory recoveries ranging from 96.2% to 105.0%, and indicating that the designed PC-N₂ H₄ is highly promising for hydrazine detection in an aqueous environment. Considering the diverse toxicological functions of hydrazine, PC-N₂ H₄ was also successfully used to image exogenous hydrazine in HeLa cells and zebrafish.