Highly efficient detection of environmental residual potentially toxic species is of concern worldwide as their presence in an excessive amount would greatly endanger the health of human beings as well as environmental sustainability. The solvation effect is a critical factor to be considered for understanding chemical reaction progress as well as the photophysical behaviors of substances and thus is promising for visualized detection of metal ions. Herein, by applying 5-amino-1,10-phenanthroline (APT) as the optical probe, a sensing strategy was proposed based on the solvation effect modulated complexation of APT towards different metal ions to achieve the visualized discrimination of four critical ions (Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), and Al(III)). How the crucial intrinsic properties of the solvent (e.g., polarity, solvent free energy, and electrostatic potential) influenced the complexation and the product emission was clarified, and the detection performances were systematically evaluated with detection limits as low as the nM level and good recognition selectivity. Furthermore, a portable sensing chip was developed with potential for highly efficient analysis in complicated scenes; thus, this strategy offers a new insight into determining multiple metal ions or other critical substances upon solvation manipulation.

中文翻译：

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溶剂化效应实现了多种金属离子的可视化区分

环境残留潜在有毒物种的高效检测受到全世界的关注，因为它们的过量存在将极大地危害人类的健康以及环境的可持续性。溶剂化效应是理解化学反应进程以及物质的光物理行为需要考虑的关键因素，因此有望用于金属离子的可视化检测。在此，通过应用5-氨基-1,10-菲咯啉（APT）作为光学探针，提出了一种基于APT对不同金属离子的溶剂化效应调制络合的传感策略，以实现四种关键离子（Cu ( II )、Zn( II )、Cd( II ) 和 Al( III ))。阐明了溶剂的关键固有特性（例如极性、溶剂自由能和静电势）如何影响络合和产物发射，并系统地评估了检测性能，检测限低至nM水平和良好的识别选择性。此外，还开发了便携式传感芯片，具有在复杂场景下高效分析的潜力；因此，该策略为通过溶剂化操作确定多种金属离子或其他关键物质提供了新的见解。