1,3,5-Triphenylbenzene: a versatile photoluminescent chemo-sensor platform and supramolecular building block

Fluorescence chemo-sensors for species of environmental and biological significance have emerged as a major research area in recent years. In this account, we describe fluorescence quenching as well as enhancement-based chemo-sensors obtained by employing C(3)-symmetric 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene (1,3,5-TPB) as the fluorescence signalling unit. 1,3,5-TPB is a thermally and photochemically stable fluorescent platform with π-electron-rich characteristics. Starting from this platform, supramolecular, discrete, triphenylbenzene-carbazole, covalent-organic framework, covalent-organic polymer and conjugated polymer based sensors have been developed for the selective detection of polynitroaromatic compounds, trinitrotoluene (TNT), dinitrotoluene (DNT) and picric acid (PA). Tris-salicylaldimine Schiff bases have been synthesized for the selective sensing of fluoride ions through a fluorescence turn-on mechanism. It is likely that it should be possible to develop other highly selective and sensitive chemo-sensors by incorporating 1,3,5-TPB as the fluorophore unit.