Acrylic Polymers with Pendant Phenylboronic Acid Moieties as “Turn-Off” and “Turn-On” Fluorescence Solid Sensors for Detection of Dopamine, Glucose, and Fructose in Water

We report herein a fluorescence polymer membrane as a film-shaped solid sensory kit for the detection and quantification in water of saccharides, namely, fructose and glucose, and dopamine. The sensory motifs are phenylboronic acids, which are chemically incorporated in the polymer network in the radically initiated bulk polymerization process. The sensory membrane is fluorescent. The interaction of the sensory motifs with dopamine “turn-off” the fluorescence due to a dynamic quenching, while stable complexes are formed with saccharides giving rise to a fluorescence “turn-on”. The variation of the fluorescence intensity and the wavelength of the maxima permitted the titration of the species with a detection limit of 3–4 × 10–4 M. The hydrophilic membrane allowed for the detection in water in spite of the lack of solubility in this medium of the sensory phenylboronic acid derivative monomer.