Fluorometric Detection of Methanol by Using Triphenylamine Fluorophore Tethered Terpyridine Probe

Abstract Triphenylamine appended terpyridine donor‐acceptor fluorescent probe ( TPA‐TP ) exhibited specific detection of methanol in presence of other volatile organic compounds, such as benzene, ethanol and biodiesel were described. The role of the terpyridine group in the TPA‐TP toward methanol detection has been demonstrated. The detection mechanism origins from s‐trans to s‐cis and vice‐versa conformational change facilitated by hydrogen bonding interactions between TPA‐TP and methanol. Besides, TPA‐TP coated Whatman filter paper based strip was evaluated for detection of methanol from benzene prepared my means of practical and versatile applications of methanol detection. Thus, TPA‐TP was demonstrated as a sensitive, selective, and inexpensive probe for methanol detection over benzene, ethanol and biodiesel by naked‐eye and fluorescence spectroscopy methods.