Curcumin-derivatives as fluorescence-electrochemical dual probe for ultrasensitive detections of picric acid in aqueous media

• Published in: Talanta (Oxford) 2024-08, Vol.275, p.126113-126113, Article 126113
• Main Authors: Rai, Anupama, Jha, Niki Sweta, Sharma, Padma, Tiwari, Suresh, Subramanian, Ranga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Curcumin derivatives; Detection; Electrochemical sensing; Fluorescence turn-on; Picric acid
• ISSN: 0039-9140; 1873-3573
• DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2024.126113

We are reporting the two curcumin derivatives, ferrocenyl curcumin (Fc-cur) and 4-nitro-benzylidene curcumin (NBC), as a probe through dual modalities, i.e., fluorescence and electrochemical methods, for the detection of nitro-analytes, such as picric acid (PA). The probes exhibited aggregation-induced enhanced emission (AIEE), and the addition of picric acid (PA) demonstrated good and specific fluorimetric identification of PA in the aggregated state. By using density functional theory (DFT), the mechanism of picric acid's (PA) interactions with the probes was further investigated. DFT studies shows evidence of charge transfer from curcumin derivatives probe to picric acid resulting into the formation of an adduct. The reduction of trinitrophenol (PA) to 2, 4, 6-trinitrosophenol was investigated utilizing a probe-modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with a good detection limit of 9.63 ± 0.001 pM and 41.01 ± 0.002 pM, respectively, for Fc-cur@GCE and NBC@GCE, taking into account the redox behavior of the probe. The applicability of the designed sensor has been utilized for real-time application in the estimation of picric acid in several water samples collected from the different source. [Display omitted] •Curcumin derivatives i.e., Ferrocenyl curcumin (Fc-cur) and p-nitrobenzaldehyde curcumin (NBC) synthesized through Knoevenagel condensation.•Derivatives show “Turn-ON” emission in the presence of Picric acid indicating AIEE mechanism.•Mechanism of AIEE was studied by Density Function Theory.•The probes were utilized electrochemically to detect the picric acid with low detection limit i.e., 9.63 pM for Fc-cur/GCE and 41.01 pM for NBC/GCE.•Real sample assay of the sensor shows its practical applicabilit.