Luminescent Zn (II) coordination polymers for highly selective detection of triethylamine, nitrobenzene and tetracycline in water systems

Abstract Two novel coordination polymers (CPs), formulated as {[Zn3(L)1.5(DMF)3]•C2H7N} n (1), and [Zn(L)0.5(bpb)0.5(H2O)2] n (2), (H4L = 1, 1′-ethylbiphenyl −3, 3′, 5, 5′- tetracarboxylic acid, bpb = 1, 4-di(pyridin-4-yl) benzene), have been acquired under hydrothermal conditions. Complexes 1 and 2 display excellent luminescence characteristics and stability in antibiotics and organic solvents. Complex 1 can detect triethylamine (TEA) and tetracycline (TET) in water by fluorescence quenching. The detection limits of 1 towards TEA and TET are 1.07 μM and 0.1 μM, respectively. Complex 2 can be used as a luminescence sensor to detect nitrobenzene (NB) and the detection limit towards NB is 0.2 μM. Moreover, complexes 1 and 2 perform excellent reproducibility, because the changes of fluorescence intensity are negligible after four cycles. The mechanism of the fluorescence quenching is discussed in detail.