Highly Sensitive and Selective Colorimetric/Fluorescent Probe with Aggregation Induced Emission Characteristics for Multiple Targets of Copper, Zinc and Cyanide Ions Sensing and Its Practical Application in Water and Food Samples

Abstract A new simple and multi-responsive colorimetric and fluorescent probe with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristic has been designed and synthesized. The probe 1-(((3-(tert-butyl)-2-hydroxy-5-methylbenzylidene)hydrazono)methyl)- naphthalen-2-ol ADC showed turn-on fluorescent response to zinc and cyanide ions (Zn 2+ and CN − ) and fluorescence quenching behavior to copper ion (Cu 2+ ), which induces obvious naked-eye color changes, respectively. Probe ADC exhibited superb selectivity and swift sensitivity for simultaneous detection of Cu 2+ and Zn 2+ ions with excellent anti-interference capability over other common ions over a wide pH range (1–12). The probe ADC for Cu 2+ /Zn 2+ /CN − detection displayed fast response time (≤40 s) and low detection limits of 1.6 × 10 −6 , 1.3 × 10 −8 and 8.1 × 10 −7  M, respectively. The sensing mechanisms were confirmed by 1 H NMR titration, FT-IR spectrum, Job’s plot analyses and TD-DFT theoretical calculations. Importantly, probe ADC could be used to detect and quantify Cu 2+ , Zn 2+ and CN − in real water samples with a high precision and good accuracy. Moreover, the probe ADC was applied to the fast detection of CN − in bitter seeds, cassava, sprouting potato, revealing its great potential for practical applications in our daily life and health science. Importantly, this work provides a simple and effective approach with economically cheap and less complicated synthetic route for selective, sensitive and quantitative detection of multiple targets of Zn 2+ , Cu 2+ and CN − ions in the environment and health systems.