Synergetic effect of pyrene-based fluorescent probes for trace nitroaniline sensing

Abstract

Nitroaniline is not only an important chemical intermediate, but also a toxic waste that is harmful to human health. Thus, it is necessary to develop efficient, sensitive, and specific technologies and materials for detecting nitroaniline to address this issue. In this work, two 2-hydroxypyrene moieties have been connected via the oxygen centres using different alkyl groups (methyl or n-amyl) or 1,4-ethylbenzene as a bridge. The target pyrene-based compounds exhibit pyrene-like optical behaviour and possess hypersensitivity toward p-nitroaniline compared to the o- and m-nitroaniline isomers. Moreover, the probe 3a (containing the methyl bridge) exhibits a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 6.18 × 10⁻⁹ M for p-nitroaniline. Therefore, these compounds have application potential for the detection of trace amounts of nitroaniline isomers.