A novel fluorescent probe based on coumarin derivatives-grafted cellulose for specific detection of Fe and its application.

Fe is one of the most important ions for maintaining the normal growth of plants and animals. However, imbalance and accumulation of Fe can lead to serious damage to the environmental system. Hence, it is considerably crucial to monitor the concentration of Fe. In this paper, a high-performance fluorescent probe CA-NCC for specifically detecting Fe was obtained by grafting cellulose acetate (CA) with coumarin derivative (NCC). The resulted probe displayed a bright blue fluorescence in THF solution and showed a distinct "turn-off" fluorescence response to Fe, while the small molecule compound NCC could not realize the detection of Fe. CA-NCC displayed excellent response performance to Fe including excellent selectivity and sensitivity, rapid reaction time (2.5 min), wide pH detection range (6-11), and low detection limit (0.178 µM). More importantly, CA-NCC was successfully fabricated into fluorescent film based on the good processability of cellulose acetate, and achieved highly selective recognition of Fe from various metal ions.