A Specific Fluorescent Probe for Antimony Based on Aggregation Induced Emission

In order to find a simple way to detect Sb^III in wastewater, TPE-2IPH, a fluorogen with high physical and chemical stability was simply designed and prepared by the classical one-step Schiff base reaction. The aggregation induced emission (AIE) property of TPE-2IPH was tested in the mixture of THF and water as well as its fluorescent response to antimony. It could be found that TPE-2IPH presented typical AIE property and its emission was greatly boosted with the addition of antimony when the water fraction was 90 %, which indicated that TPE-2IPH was a perfect fluorescent probe for antimony. The mechanism was supposed to be the coordinate of antimony and the IPH functional groups in TPE-2IPH under aggregate state. Moreover, TPE-2IPH could distinguish antimony with other cations well, implying that it was a potential indicator for antimony with high selectivity and specificity.