A novel dibenzo[a,c]phenazine-based fluorescent probe for fast and selective detection of thiophenols in environmental water

We herein report a novel dibenzo[a,c]phenazine-based fluorescent probe with fast response to thiophenols over a wide pH range from 5 to 13. The probe possesses a large Stokes shift (120 nm). More importantly, it displays a high selectivity and sensitivity for thiophenols in the presence of other analytes such as biothiols and common metal ions. A good linear relationship between the fluorescence intensity at 570 nm and the thiophenol concentration in the range of 0–20 μM was observed with a low detection limit at 40 nM. In addition, it has been successfully applied to detect thiophenols in environmental water (such as seawater, tap water and spring water) with high recovery, which confirmed its potential value in environmental monitoring.