Explosive sensing with fluorescent dendrimers: the role of collisional quenching

Olley, David A.;Wren, Ellen J.;Vamvounis, George;Fernee, Mark J.;Wang, Xin;Burn, Paul L.;Meredith, Paul;Shaw, Paul E.

Abstract

We have investigated a series of branched fluorescent sensing compounds with thiophene units in the arms and triphenylamine centers for the detection of nitrated model compounds for 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and the plastic explosives taggant 2,3-dimethyl-2,3-dinitrobutane (DMNB). Stern−Volmer measurements in solution show that the fluorescence is more efficiently quenched by nitroaromatic compounds when compared to a non-nitrated quencher, benzophenone. Simple modification of the structure of the sensing compound was found to result in significant changes to the sensitivity and selectivity toward the nitrated analytes. A key result from time-resolved fluorescent measurements showed that the chromophore−analyte interaction was primarily a collisional process. This process is in contrast to conjugated polymers where static quenching dominates, a difference that could offer a potentially more powerful detection mechanism.

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Chemistry of Materials

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1520-5002

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American Chemical Society

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DOI

10.1021/cm1020355