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A Novel Donor–Acceptor Fluorescent Sensor for Zn2+ with High Selectivity and its Application in Test Paper

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Abstract

A novel donor–acceptor fluorescent sensor was designed and synthesized. The sensor exhibited high selectivity and sensitivity to Zn2+ in acetonitrile solution. When 3.0 equiv. of Zn2+ was added gradually, the emission intensity at 500 nm increased 54-fold, accompanied by the fluorescent color of the solution changed from dark to green. Job’s plot and ESI-MS were carried out to verify a 1:1 stoichiometric complex was formed between the sensor and Zn2+. The limit of detection (LOD) to Zn2+ was measured to be 2.81 × 10−9 mol L−1. Moreover, the sensor not only could be used to detect Zn2+ in practical water samples with high accuracy, but also could be made into test paper for the qualitative detection for Zn2+.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41867053), the Project of the Science Funds of the Education Office of Jiangxi Province (GJJ190599), the Young Talents Project of Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University (2015QNBJRC004), the Monster’ Innovative Foundation of Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University (YC2019-S410).

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Correspondence to Shiqiang Cui or Shouzhi Pu.

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Jiang, G., Shi, F., Jia, Y. et al. A Novel Donor–Acceptor Fluorescent Sensor for Zn2+ with High Selectivity and its Application in Test Paper. J Fluoresc 30, 1567–1574 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-020-02609-9

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