Carbazolyl-Modified Neutral Ir(III) Complexes for Efficient Detection of Picric Acid in Aqueous Media
Jiangchao Xu,
Liyan Zhang,
Yusheng Shi,
Chun Liu
Affiliations
Jiangchao Xu
State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Frontier Science Center for Smart Materials, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Linggong Road 2, Dalian 116024, China
Liyan Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Frontier Science Center for Smart Materials, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Linggong Road 2, Dalian 116024, China
Yusheng Shi
State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Frontier Science Center for Smart Materials, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Linggong Road 2, Dalian 116024, China
Chun Liu
State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Frontier Science Center for Smart Materials, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Linggong Road 2, Dalian 116024, China
Based on the electron-deficient property of picric acid (PA), two neutral Ir(III) complexes 1 and 2 modified with the electron-rich carbazolyl groups were synthesized and characterized. Both 1 and 2 exhibit aggregation-induced phosphorescence emission (AIPE) properties in THF/H2O. Among them, 2 is extremely sensitive for detecting PA with a limit of detection of 0.15 μM in THF/H2O. Furthermore, the selectivity for PA is significantly higher compared to other analytes, enabling the efficient detection of PA in four common water samples. The density functional theory calculations and the spectroscopic results confirm that the sensing mechanism is photo-induced electron transfer (PET).
