Folic Acid as a Bimodal Optical Probe for the Detection of TNT

• Published in: Journal of fluorescence 2021-07, Vol.31 (4), p.933-940
• Main Authors: Vijila, N. S., Athira, M., Madanan Anju, S., Aswathy, A. O., Jayakrishna, J., Sreekumar, Mrudula, Anjali Devi, J. S., Anjitha, B., George, Sony
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Biochemistry; Biological and Medical Physics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Biophysics; Biotechnology; Colorimetry; Colorimetry - methods; Explosives detection; Fluorescence; Fluorescent Dyes - chemical synthesis; Fluorescent Dyes - chemistry; Folic acid; Folic Acid - analysis; Folic Acid - chemistry; Limit of Detection; Nitrophenol; Organic compounds; Original Article; Selectivity; Spectrometry, Fluorescence; Trinitrotoluene; Trinitrotoluene - analysis
• ISSN: 1053-0509; 1573-4994; 1573-4994
• DOI: 10.1007/s10895-021-02713-4

Rapid and onsite detection of nitroaromatic explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) is very crucial for the safety and security of human life as well as for the environment. In this present work, we demonstrate the feasibility for employing Folic Acid (FA) as a fluorescent as well as a colorimetric probe for the detection of TNT. This probe was synthesized by a simple one-step process. The developed probe shows an emission maximum at 490 nm upon excitation at 420 nm. On adding TNT, the fluorescence of the FA probe is quenched. Also, it shows a good selectivity towards TNT over other similar organic compounds such as 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), 2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) and picric acid (PA). The limit of detection (LoD) of TNT was found to be 1.9398 µM. Colorimetric detection was conducted and paper strip assay was developed for the practical applications. Graphical Abstract