A Specific Fluorescent Probe for Antimony Based on Aggregation Induced Emission

Abstract

In order to find a simple way to detect Sb III in wastewater, TPE‐2IPH, a fluorogen with high physical and chemical stability was simply designed and prepared by the classical one‐step Schiff base reaction. The aggregation induced emission (AIE) property of TPE‐2IPH was tested in the mixture of THF and water as well as its fluorescent response to antimony. It could be found that TPE‐2IPH presented typical AIE property and its emission was greatly boosted with the addition of antimony when the water fraction was 90 %, which indicated that TPE‐2IPH was a perfect fluorescent probe for antimony. The mechanism was supposed to be the coordinate of antimony and the IPH functional groups in TPE‐2IPH under aggregate state. Moreover, TPE‐2IPH could distinguish antimony with other cations well, implying that it was a potential indicator for antimony with high selectivity and specificity.