Sensitive discrimination of hazardous explosives by a sensor array based on siloles with aggregate-induced emission

Area of Science:

• Organic Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Materials Science

Background:

• Cationic amidinourea side chains are rarely utilized in fluorophore design.
• Developing sensitive and selective sensors for hazardous explosives is crucial for security and environmental monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize novel silole derivatives bearing cationic amidinourea groups for explosive detection.
• To evaluate the sensing performance, including sensitivity and selectivity, of these derivatives towards nitroaromatic explosives.
• To develop a cross-reactive sensor array for differentiating complex explosive mixtures and real-world samples.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of four silole derivatives with varying side chains (cationic, neutral).
• Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) studies for sensing applications.
• Construction of a cross-reactive sensor array utilizing linear discriminant analysis (LDA).
• Fabrication of test strips for practical sensing applications.
• Application of machine learning algorithms for complex sample analysis.

Main Results:

• All four silole derivatives exhibited aggregation-induced emission (AIE).
• The sensors demonstrated excellent sensitivity and discriminatory capabilities for detecting nitroaromatic explosives in water.
• The sensor array successfully differentiated nine closely related nitro explosives and identified individual explosives in mixtures and real water samples.
• Test strips showed potential for practical field applications.

Conclusions:

• Silole derivatives with cationic amidinourea groups are effective organic sensors for nitroaromatic explosives.
• The developed sensor array combined with LDA and machine learning offers a powerful platform for explosive detection and identification.
• This work provides a convenient detection strategy for environmental analysis and paves the way for cation sensor development.