New sensors for the detection of picric acid: Ionic liquids based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes prepared via a thiol-ene click reaction

Ionic liquids based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (ILs-POSS) reported in this paper were prepared via thiol-ene “Click” reaction. Self-assembly behaviors were observed in selected solvents. Distinct from other ILs, we have first found it very meaningful that these ILs have performed high sensitivities in detecting picric acid when the content is 1*10−9 M. These data have demonstrated that the novel ILs have great potential in the detection of explosives-picric acid.136