A novel fluorescent epoxy resin for organophosphate pesticide detection

In this work, a novel bisbenzimidazolylpyridine-functionalized fluorescent epoxy resin was synthesized for organophosphate pesticide detection. The epoxy resin was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and fluorescence spectroscopy. After loading with Eu(Ⅲ) ions, the epoxy resin showed a strong fluorescence emission. The fluorescence emission was observed to be instantaneously quenched when exposed to trace amount of diethyl chlorophosphate in solution. The Stern-Volmer quenching constants Ksv for quenching at 617 nm was determined to be 0.377×103 L/mol. This sensitive emission-quenching function and easy processing nature of the polymeric support enable the resin to be a promising chemosensor candidate for the detection of organophosphates.