A simple turn-on fluorescent chemosensor for CO2 based on aggregation-induced emission: Application as a CO2 absorbent screening method

Abstract

An α-cyanostilbene-based fluorescent chemosensor, which includes a primary amine, was developed for the quantitative analysis of CO2 in solution. (Z)-3-(4-(3-Aminopropoxy)phenyl)-2-(4-nitrophenyl)acrylonitrile (1) reacts with CO2 and enables a turn-on type CO2 chemosensor with increased fluorescence due to aggregation-induced emission. More importantly, 1 required no additives such as an amine media for detecting CO2, and the limit of detection was estimated to be ∼26 ppm. This system was successfully applied to determine the relative efficiency of CO2 absorbents dependent on the fluorescence change in 1. The use of this chemosensor as a CO2 absorbent screening method suggests that 1 may be used to develop a high-throughput screening method for the evaluation of high-performance CO2 absorbents.