Unique Reaction-Based Polynorbornene Sensing Probes for Ultrasensitive Detection of Hydrazine in Both Environmental...

Hydrazine-mediated formation of 1,4-phthalazinedione analogues from phthalimide-like components has been utilized to formulate fluorescent probe NorTh. A turn-on fluorescent process has been evaluated to detect hydrazine in a highly selective manner by a small molecular probe NorTh and its homopolymer Poly-NorTh. Both these probes have been evaluated as excellent candidates for nanomolar level detection of hydrazine with a time frame of <15 min, which is rapid in terms of real application. Due to the reaction-based detection process, we have achieved high selectivity for our probes toward the identification of hydrazine in the presence of metal ions, anions, amino acids, and various amines. Limit of detection values are 16 and 35 nM for NorTh and Poly-NorTh, respectively, which are well below the permissible limit given by WHO and EPA. Poly-NorTh has been utilized to detect hydrazine in environmental water samples, soil samples, and biological samples to establish the applicability of our probes in real-field scenarios. We introduce an easy-to-synthesize, cheap, and small molecular probe and its polymer for ultrafast, highly selective, and sensitive detection of hydrazine in all possible mediums to counter the hydrazine toxicity through fluorescence turn-on signal output.