A Highly Selective Economical Sensor for 4-Nitrophenol

Herein, an inexpensive commercially available sensor is presented for the detection of 4-nitrophenol (4NP) pollutant. Sodium fluorescein (NaFl) is used as a sensor to detect trace amounts of 4NP in acetonitrile (MeCN). The photophysical properties of NaFl were studied in two different solvents, MeCN...

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Published inSustainable chemistry Vol. 2; no. 3; pp. 506 - 520
Main Authors Le, Thuy, Khan, Yusuf, Speller, Nicholas, Bashiru, Mujeebat, Macchi, Samantha, Warner, Isiah, Siraj, Noureen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2021
Subjects
4-nitrophenol
absorption
Acetonitrile
Aqueous solutions
Chromatography
Fluorescein
Fluorescence
Hydrogen bonding
Hydrogen bonds
Laboratories
Nitrophenol
Phenols
Pollutants
Pollution detection
Quantum dots
Sensors
sodium fluorescein
Solvents
Spectrophotometry
United States > US
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Summary:Herein, an inexpensive commercially available sensor is presented for the detection of 4-nitrophenol (4NP) pollutant. Sodium fluorescein (NaFl) is used as a sensor to detect trace amounts of 4NP in acetonitrile (MeCN). The photophysical properties of NaFl were studied in two different solvents, MeCN (aprotic) and water (protic), with varying concentrations of different nitroaromatics using UV-visible absorption and fluorescence spectrophotometry. In an aqueous medium, photophysical properties of NaFl did not change in the presence of nitroaromatics. However, examination of the photodynamics in MeCN demonstrated that NaFl is extremely sensitive to 4NP (limit of detection: 0.29 µg/mL). This extreme specificity of NaFl towards 4NP when dissolved in MeCN, as compared to other nitroaromatics, is attributed to hydrogen bonding of 4NP with NaFl in the absence of water, resulting in both static and dynamic quenching processes. Thus, NaFl is demonstrated as a simple, inexpensive, sensitive, and robust optical turn off sensor for 4NP.
ISSN:2673-4079
2673-4079
DOI:10.3390/suschem2030028