| Summary: | Hexa-armed dansyl end-capped poly(ε-caprolactone) star polymer with phosphazene core (N3P3-(PCL-Dansyl)6) was prepared in a two-step synthetic procedure including ring opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone (ε-CL) and esterification reactions. The obtained fluorescence-active polymer was employed as a fluorescent probe towards certain nitroaromatic compounds (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), 2,4-dinitrotoluene, 2,6-dinitrotoluene, 2-nitrotoluene, 3-nitrotoluene, 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (picric acid), 2,4-dinitrophenol, 4-nitrophenol, and 1,2-dinitrobenzene). Fluorescence intensity of N3P3-(PCL-Dansyl)6 was decreased gradually upon the addition of nitroaromatic compounds and the highest quenching efficiency was found to be 100% with TNT. Besides, N3P3-(PCL-Dansyl)6 gave exceptionally selective response toward nitroaromatic compounds, even in the presence of toxic metal cations such as Pb2+, Co2+, Hg2+, Mn2+, Cd2+ and Zn2+.
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