A tailor designed fluorescent ‘turn-on’ sensor of formaldehyde based on the BODIPY motif

Abstract Based on theoretical calculations on the effects of molecular orbital energy levels of amines on the fluorescence properties of the fluorophore, aniline-substituted BODIPY motif ( AnB ) with quenched fluorescence was developed as a ‘turn-on’ switch for the qualitative and quantitative detection of formaldehyde with the detection limit (LOD) of ca. 165 nM.