A ratiometric fluorescent probe combined with smartphone technology based on cellulose for the detection of hypochlorous acid.

Hypochloric acid (HClO) is a reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS is an important component that has antibacterial effects on the biological immune defense system. Therefore, the detection of HClO has become an unavoidable issue. This paper reports a cellulose-based fluorescent probe. Naphthalimide serves as the fluorescent group, and the methylthio group serves as the recognition site. The principle is that HClO can oxidise the methyl sulphide group to a sulphoxide. Under a 365 nm UV lamp, this ratiometric fluorescent probe emits a bright yellow green fluorescence, which turns blue after adding HClO. This probe uses more environmentally friendly and sustainable biomass resources, and has significant fluorescence characteristics compared to most reported probes. Its detection limit (LOD) is as low as 4.34 μM. The equilibrium constant K = 3.54 × 10 M for the probe plus HClO. The response time is 30 s, and it has good specificity recognition and anti-interference ability. In addition, the probe has been successfully prepared into a fluorescent film, providing potential applications for the convenient detection of HClO. Finally, the probe will be combined with smartphone technology as a portable signal processing device to further achieve visual detection of HClO.