The novel anthracene decorated dendrimeric cyclophosphazenes for highly selective sensing of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT)

Abstract Novel fluorescent anthracene-decorated cyclotri- and cyclotetraphosphazenes ( 5 and 6 ) are designed and synthesized, and their chemosensor behaviors against nitroaromatic compounds are examined by UV/Vis and fluorescence spectroscopies for addressing the sensors with cyclophosphazenes for 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene detection. The fluorescence intensities of ( 5 and 6 ) are found to be selectively quenched by only 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene through the non-covalent π⋯π stacking interactions between anthracene-substituted cyclophosphazenes and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene. In addition, cyclic voltammetry and theoretical calculation of novel sensor systems are studied. The proposed fluorescent sensor systems are critical in terms of practical detection of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene.