“Turn-on” fluorescence sensor for organic amines fabricated via sustainable processing

Abstract

The detection of organic amines is a pivotal issue in chemistry. Here we present the synthesis of a novel fluorescence probe with “turn-on” greenish emissive (486 nm) response towards a series of organic amines for the first time with di-catechol moiety-based sensing materials. This sensor was fabricated from a 1,5-disubstituted naphthalene scaffold that was prepared via a sustainable process without the use of column chromatography or recrystallization. We reveal its dual-mode sensing capability covering visual and quantitative recognition for organic amines with a detection limit down to sub-ppm level. This system may find a broad spectrum of potential applications for monitoring organic amines in various fields, such as bioscience, biomedicine, pharmaceuticals, food science and environmental chemistry.