A dual-responsive Ni(II) coordination polymer fluorescent sensor: Rare turn-on detection of ascorbic acid and turn-off sensing acetylacetone

A one-dimensional (1D) Ni(II) coordination polymer (CP), [Ni(H2L)2(bpe)(H2O)2]bpe·(H2O)4 (1) (H3L ​= ​4-(2′,3′-dicarboxylphenoxy) benzoic acid; bpe ​= ​1,2-bis(4-pyridyl) ethylene) was constructed from a semi-rigid tricarboxylate acid H3L. Owing to the extraordinary moisture susceptibility and fluorescence property, compound 1 displays high sensitive and selective detectivity as a dual-response fluorescence probe for ascorbic acid and acetylacetone in aqueous phase via fluorescence “turn on” and “turn off” mechanism, respectively. It's worth noting that 1 exhibits rare turn-on responsive effect to AA. Both proposed systems exhibit excellent performance with outstanding anti-interference ability as well as good reusability. Besides, the mechanisms of fluorescence sensing were also investigated in detail. This work expands the practical applications of stable CPs in the detection of biological molecules and organic pollutants in aqueous phase. [Display omitted] •A new luminescent Ni(II)-CP was prepared for detecting Hacac and AA.•This compound exhibits rare turn-on responsive effect to AA.•The possible sensing mechanisms are also discussed in detail.