New Functionalized Ionic Liquids Based on POSS for the Detection of Fe(3+) Ion

This study reports a novel series of imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs) based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) towards effective detection of metal ions, especially Fe3+ ion. (1)H, (13)C, (29)Si NMR, high resolution mass spectra (HRMS) and Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) were applied to confirm the structures of the ILs based on POSS (ILs-POSS). The three ILs-POSS were synthesized via a green chemistry approach—a thiol-ene “click” reaction without metal ions as catalysts. Furthermore, the spherical vesicle structures of the ILs-POSS were observed and caused by self-assembly behaviors. Through comprehensive characterizations, these ILs-POSS have performed excellent thermal stabilities and low glass transition temperatures. In addition, we found it very meaningful that the limits of detection (LODs) of the three ILs-POSS for the detection of the Fe(3+) ion were 7.91 × 10(−8) M, 1.2 × 10(−7) M, and 1.2 × 10(−7) M, respectively. These data illustrate that these ILs-POSS have great potential for the detection of the Fe(3+) ion. In conclusion, this study not only prepared novel ILs-POSS, but also provided new materials as fluorescent sensors in the detection of Fe(3+).