A dual-mode fluorescent chemosensor for multi-medium tracking of N₂H₄ and its biological application

Hydrazine is widely utilized in the medical, agricultural and textile industries. However, it has been demonstrated to be carcinogenic, causing severe contamination of atmospheric, aquatic and soil ecosystems. In this study, a high signal-to-noise ratio dual-mode fluorescent chemosensor XQA was synthesized for the naked-eye and efficient detection of N₂H₄ in multi-medium. In the water or DMSO/PBS buffer solutions (3,7, v/v), with the increase of the concentration of N₂H₄, the fluorescence intensity of sensor XQA at 480 and 545 nm wavelengths gradually increased. The detection limits were determined to be 0.063 and 0.028 μM, respectively. The most suitable pH range of sensor XQA was 5-12 and 7-12, and it showed good specificity and naked eye recognition under various substrate conditions. The paper strip test is effective and can be directly used for N₂H₄ vapor test. Furthermore, sensor XQA was successfully applied to bioimaging real water samples, soil and Arabidopsis thaliana.