Fluorogenic and chromogenic detection of biologically important fluoride anion with schiff-bases containing 4-amino-1,8-naphthalimide unit

Two new kinds of dual-channel naphthalimide-based chemsensors for selective detection of fluoride anion was designed and synthesized. Upon the addition of F−, they displayed dramatic color changes from orange to blue, together with drastically quenched fluorescence, through hydrogen bonding interactions. The maximum absorption wavelength was red-shifted for over 100 nm to the near-infrared region (NIR region). In addition, L1 showed high selectivity toward fluoride ion among test anions such as F−, AcO−, Cl−, Br− and I−, and the maximum fluorescent region was also at the NIR region.