A new ratiometric fluorescent probe for the detection of thiophenols

Abstract

A new ratiometric fluorescent probe for the detection of highly toxic thiophenols was reported. To produce ratiometric fluorescence signal changes for thiophenols, this probe was designed to use a coumarin–naphthalimide dyad as the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) platform and dinitrophenyl ether as the recognition unit. This probe features high selectivity and sensitivity for thiophenols with a rapid detection process under mild conditions and remarkable fluorescence emission ratio changes (up to 340-fold). The application of this probe for thiophenol detection in real water samples was successfully applied.