A selective fluorescent and colorimetric dual-responses chemosensor for streptomycin based on polythiophene derivative

• A new polythiophene-based chemosensor for streptomycin has been developed.
• PT3 displays colorimetric and fluorescent dual-responses toward streptomycin.
• The sensing mechanism may be the conformational change of PT3 induced by streptomycin binding.

A colorimetric and fluorescent dual-responses chemosensor (PT3, a water-soluble polythiophene) for streptomycin was designed and synthesized. The structure of PT3 was characterized by using infrared spectroscopy, 1H NMR and gel-permeation chromatography analyses. The conformational change of PT3 induced by streptomycin resulted in the red shift of absorption spectra and fluorescent quenching. Moreover, PT3 showed excellent selectivity for streptomycin over other antibiotics and biomolecules. PT3 could quantificationally detect streptomycin in the range of 2–70 μM with a detection limit of 0.2 μM (116 ppb), which is lower than the maximum residue limit defined by World Health Organization (200 ppb).

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