Development of a new water-soluble fluorescence probe for hypochlorous acid detection in drinking water

Responsive small-molecule fluorescence probe specific for target analyte detection is an emerging technology for food safety and quality analysis. In this work, we report a new water soluble small-molecule fluorescence probe (PG) for the detection of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in drinking water samples. Probe PG was developed by coupling of a glucosamine into 10-methyl-10H-phenothiazine fluorophore with a HOCl-responsive C=N bond. The thioether is another recognition site that can be oxidized to be sulfoxide in water. Due to the specific reactions triggered by HOCl, probe PG’s absorption band is blue shifted from 388 to 340 nm, and fluorescence at 488 nm is more than 55-fold enhanced. Probe PG features high fluorescence stability in PBS buffer with varied pH, fast response and high selectivity to HOCl. The application of the probe PG for HOCl detection in real-world samples is demonstrated by HOCl detection in drinking water, including tap water, purified water, and spring water samples. The recoveries of this method for HOCl detection in drinking water are in the range of 99.17–102.3%. This work thus provides a new method for HOCl detection in drinking water with high precision and accuracy.