Supramolecular Assembly-Induced Emission Enhancement for Efficient Mercury(II) Detection and Removal

• Published in: Journal of the American Chemical Society Vol. 141; no. 11; pp. 4756 - 4763
• Main Authors: Dai, Dihua, Li, Zheng, Yang, Jie, Wang, Chunyu, Wu, Jia-Rui, Wang, Yan, Zhang, Dongmei, Yang, Ying-Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: WASHINGTON American Chemical Society 20.03.2019; Amer Chemical Soc
• Subjects: adsorption; aromatic hydrocarbons; Chemistry; Chemistry, Multidisciplinary; environmental sustainability; fluorescence; heavy metals; mercury; metal ions; nanoparticles; Physical Sciences; pollutants; pollution; polymers; quaternary ammonium compounds; Science & Technology; sodium sulfide; thymine; toxicity; HOSTS; DESIGN; HG2; METAL-ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS; CONVERSION; POLYMER; AGGREGATION-INDUCED-EMISSION
• ISSN: 0002-7863; 1520-5126; 1520-5126
• DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b01546

New strategies that can simultaneously detect and remove highly toxic environmental pollutants such as heavy metal ions are still in urgent need. Herein, through supramolecular host–guest interactions, a fluorescent supramolecular polymer has been facilely constructed from a newly designed [2]­biphenyl-extended pillar[6]­arene equipped with two thymine sites as arms (H) and a tetraphenylethylene (TPE)-bridged bis­(quaternary ammonium) guest (G) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) property. Interestingly, supramolecular assembly-induced emission enhancement (SAIEE) could be switched on upon addition of Hg2+ into the above-mentioned supramolecular polymer system to generate spherical-like supramolecular nanoparticles, due to the restriction of intramolecular rotation (RIR)-related AIE feature of G. Significantly, this supramolecular polymer with integrated modalities has been successfully used for real-time detection and removal of toxic heavy metal Hg2+ ions from water with quick response, high selectivity, and rapid adsorption rates, which could be efficiently regenerated and recycled without any loss via a simple treatment with Na2S. The newly developed supramolecular polymer system combines the inherent rigid and spacious cavity of novel extended-pillarene host with the AIE characteristics of TPE-based guest, suggesting a great potential in the treatment of heavy metal pollution and environmental sustainability.