A triphenylamine-based fluorescent probe for detecting pentachloronitrobenzene: Applications in herbal medicine, foods and bioimaging.

Abstract

The widespread use of pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB) poses a serious threat to environment and human health, making its precise detection in agricultural products and food samples crucial. In this study, a triphenylamine-based fluorescent probe TP was proposed and designed for the selective and accurate quantitative detection of PCNB. Probe TP combined a triphenylamine fluorescent group with an anthracene-based unit, which enabled a significant extension of the conjugation system and an enhanced π-π interaction, achieved specific recognition of PCNB based on intermolecular forces while maintaining the optical activity of the fluorophore. During the detection process, probe TP exhibited a low limit of detection (LOD) of 19 nM and showed remarkable selectivity for PCNB over other common pesticides widely used in agricultural activities, and demonstrated high accuracy in real herbal samples, nutraceuticals and vegetables, achieved spiked recoveries of 95.00% ∼ 103.75%. In addition, probe TP showed low cytotoxicity and cell membrane permeability, enabling imaging of PCNB-induced cells, was expected to serve as an interdisciplinary-integrated molecular tool for PCNB detection.