AIEgens functionalized hollow mesoporous silica nanospheres for selective detection of the antimicrobial furazolidone

Scheme Synthesis route of AIEgen functionalized hollow silica nanospheres. • AIE luminogens tetraphenyl ethylene functionalized hollow silica nanospheres (FHMSN) were successfully synthesized through a simple post-graft method. • FHMSN showed sensitive detection for the antibacterial furazolidone based on photo-induced energy transfer quenching process with a high quenching constant of 2.43 × 10 4 M −1 . • FHMSN can selectively detect the furazolidone not disturbed by other pesticides such as glyphosate, benoxacor, glufosinate ammonium, dipterex, clethodim, mesotrione, phosethyl-Al, demonstrating the potential value of AIEgens-functionalized mesoporous materials in environmental protection. Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) functionalized hollow silica nanospheres were synthesized by post-grafing tetraphenylethylene derivatives on the mesoporous material. The fluorecent nanoprobe, marked as FHMSN showed strong blue emission under 340 nm excitation and was used to selectively detect the antibacterial furazolidone in water system, which was based on the dynamic quenching mechanism. It exhibited quick and sensitive response towards furazolidone with a large quenching constant of 2.43 × 10 4 M −1 , while scarcely showed any detection effect towards other water pollutions such as glyphosate, glufosinate ammonium, dipterex, clethodim, benoxacor, mesotrione or phosethyl-Al. These experiment results demonstrate the potential value of AIEgens-functionalized mesoporous materials in environmental protection.