On-off-on fluorescent oligomer as a chemosensor for the detection of manganese(), sulfur() and aldehydes based on the inner filter effect

In this article, a sensitive and selective on-off-on fluorescence chemosensor, Tyloxapol (one kind of water soluble oligomer), was developed for the label-free detection of MnO 4 − ions in aqueous solution. From fluorescence experiments, it is demonstrated that Tyloxapol is a sensitive and selective fluorescence sensor for the detection of MnO 4 − directly in water over a wide range of anions including Cl − , Br − , I − , NO 3 − , H 2 PO 4 − , HCO 3 − , OH − , ClO 4 − , Ac − , SO 4 2− , HPO 4 2− , CO 3 2− , C 2 O 4 2− , S 2− , SO 3 2− , and Cr 2 O 7 2− . Moreover, the fluorescence intensity of Tyloxapol has shown a linear response to MnO 4 − in the concentration range of 0 to 120 μmol L −1 with a detection limit of 0.392 μmol L −1 MnO 4 − . The interaction mechanism demonstrated that our on-off fluorescent oligomer probe for detecting Mn( vii ) is based on the inner filter effect (IFE) because the absorption bands of Mn( vii ) are fully covered by the excitation bands of Tyloxapol. Next, another turn-on sensing application of the Tyloxapol/MnO 4 − platform to probe S 2− against various other anions and aldehydes against various other organic pollutants were also established. It is expected that our strategy may offer a new approach for developing a simple, cost-effective, rapid and sensitive sensor for the detection of anions and aldehydes in environmental applications. In this article, a sensitive and selective on-off-on fluorescence chemosensor, Tyloxapol (one kind of water soluble oligomer), was developed for the label-free detection of MnO 4 − ions in aqueous solution.