Macromolecules
Macromolecules
5 years ago

A Pyrene Derived CO2-Responsive Polymeric Probe for the Turn-On Fluorescent Detection of Nerve Agent Mimics with Tunable Sensitivity

A Pyrene Derived CO2-Responsive Polymeric Probe for the Turn-On Fluorescent Detection of Nerve Agent Mimics with Tunable Sensitivity
Hyung-il Lee, Moumita Gupta
A pyrene based turn-on fluorescent polymeric probe was developed for the tunable detection of nerve agent mimics. Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and dimethylacrylamide (DMA) were copolymerized by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization to yield poly-(glycidyl methacrylate-co-dimethylacrylamide) [p(GMA-co-DMA)](P1). The subsequent reaction of the secondary amine of 2-(2-((pyren-1-ylmethyl)-amino)-ethoxy)-ethanol with the epoxide unit of P1 yielded P2, which can detect diethyl cyanophosphate (DCNP), a nerve agent mimic, very efficiently by the turn-on fluorescence technique, induced by DCNP promoted intramolecular N-alkylation in both the solution and vapor phase. The lowest detection limit of P2 to DCNP was obtained as 0.1 mM, which is close to the toxicity limit of Tabun. Moreover, the detection of DCNP was successfully controlled by altering the purging of CO2/N2 gases or tuning the pH of the solution. P2 showed an efficient ON/OFF reversible fluorescence response toward CO2 and N2 gases, further helping tunable ON/OFF sensing of DCNP. The CO2-tunable detection of DCNP was further correlated to the pH-dependent control of detection sensitivity. At low pH, no change in the fluorescence enhancement was observed upon exposure to DCNP, whereas the fluorescence intensity of the probe remarkably increased at high pH. Thus, these CO2/pH controllable detection properties can offer new insights into the design of new stimuli-responsive polymeric probes with fluorescence turn-on detection of nerve agent mimics.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.7b01200

DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.7b01200

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.