A novel AIE-based imidazolium for carbonate ion detection

A novel AIE-based imidazolium fluorescent chemosensor TBTD-IA was designed and synthesized for highly selective and sensitive detection of carbonate ion (CO32−) in aqueous solution. TBTD-IA contains a triphenylamine-based red emission core, imidazolium and amide anions donors, and a long alkyl chain. It shows a good amphiphilic properties, and self-assembles nano-aggregation with a red emission at 631 nm in aqueous solution. After the addition of carbonate ion, the fluorescence of TBTD-IA is quenched, with the detection limit value as low as 4.27 nM, which can be used for the detection of CO32− in real-world water samples. Furthermore, TBTD-IA shows good biocompatibility and can image CO32− in living cells.