An aggregation-induced emission (AIE) fluorescent chemosensor for the detection of Al(III) in aqueous solution

A novel fluorescent chemosensor (2) for the detection of Al(III) was designed based on the strategy of aggregation-induced emission (AIE), which was synthesized by introducing carboxyl group to tetraphenylethylene structure. 2 can bind with Al(III) to form chelate polymers with AIE characteristic, giving rise to an intense “turn-on” response in aqueous solution at pH 7.0. The binding stoichiometry of 2 toward Al(III) was in 1:1. High sensitivity and selectivity to Al(III) were achieved. A detection limit of 1.96 μmol L−1 and a linear rang of 0.0–50.0 μmol L−1 were obtained. Furthermore, 2 was successfully applied in detecting Al(III) in real water samples, which showed satisfactory recovery and accuracy.