Phenothiazine and BN-doped AIE Probes Integrated Fluorescence Sensor Array for Detection and Discrimination of Nitro Explosives

Highly effective sensing of nitro explosives plays an extremely important role in homeland security and counter-terrorism. In this work, a BN-doped aggregation induced emission (AIE) probe SN-1 was synthesized and subsequently characterized. The probe was then exposed to DNT and TNT, which resulted in formation of intermolecular hydrogen bonds between the probe and the two nitro explosives, and thus fluorescence quenching response was achieved. In addition, an electron rich phenothiazine probe SN-2 was also prepared to probe the response to the nitro explosives via photo-induced electron transfer. The two probes were combined to construct a fluorescence sensor array for the successful distinction of five nitro explosives. This reliable and sensitive fluorescence sensor array held a good potential for homeland security and environmental management.