Extensive optical and DFT studies on novel AIE active fluorescent sensor for Colorimetric and fluorometric detection of nitrobenzene in Solid, solution and vapor phase

Aqsa Pervaiz; Sohail Anjum Shahzad; Mohammed A Assiri; Tayyeba Javid; Hasher Irshad; Khanzadi Omama Khan

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2024.124121

Extensive optical and DFT studies on novel AIE active fluorescent sensor for Colorimetric and fluorometric detection of nitrobenzene in Solid, solution and vapor phase

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2024 May 15:313:124121. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2024.124121. Epub 2024 Mar 6.

Authors

Aqsa Pervaiz¹, Sohail Anjum Shahzad², Mohammed A Assiri³, Tayyeba Javid¹, Hasher Irshad¹, Khanzadi Omama Khan¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, University Road, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan.
² Department of Chemistry, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, University Road, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan. Electronic address: sashahzad@cuiatd.edu.pk.
³ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia; Research Center for Advanced Materials Science (RCAMS), King Khalid University, Abha 61514, P. O. Box 9004, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 38460231
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2024.124121

Abstract

An electron rich isophthalamide based sensor IPA has been synthesized through a simple two-step reaction, containing noteworthy aggregation induced emission (AIE) properties. Considering the significant emission with λ_max at 438 nm, sensor IPA has been employed for the sensing of nitrobenzene (NB) in solid, solution and vapor state with high sensitivity and selectivity. Sensor IPA showed noteworthy colorimetric and fluorometric quenching in fluorescence emission when exposed to NB. Small size of NB and involvement of photoinduced electron transfer (PET) lead to detection of NB down to 60 nM. IPA-NB interaction was studied through UV-Vis. spectroscopic studies along with fluorescence spectroscopy. Moreover, ¹H and ¹³C NMR titration experiments provided additional support for determination of interaction type. Furthermore, by using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, thermodynamic stability was studied. Additionally, non-covalent interactions (NCI), frontier molecular orbitals (FMO), density of states (DOS), were investigated for providing further evidence of nitrobenzene sensing and its interaction with sensor. Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis was carried out for charge transfer studies. Quantum theory of atom in molecule (QTAIM) and SAPT0 studies provided information about interaction points and binding energy. Additionally, IPA was investigated for NB sensing in real water samples, and its effective participation in solid state on-site detection as well as in solution phase was brought to light along with logic gate construction.

Keywords: AIE; Colorimetric Sensing; DFT; Nitrobenzene Vapor Detection; Solid-State Fluorescence.