Carbazole-siloxane based polymers for the selective detection of 4-nitrophenol and Fe3+

Silicone-containing polymers have broad application prospects in the detection of many analytes due to their unique fluorescence properties. Environmental pollutants are very complex, which have prompted researchers to explore different detection methods. In this report, two kinds of polymers were synthesized via Heck-reaction between tetramethyltetravinylcyclotetrasiloxane (D 4 vi ) and carbazole derivatives. The polymers showed excellent fluorescent properties and exhibited high sensitivity to 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and Fe 3+ in solution. Furthermore, the polymers still showed high sensitivity for Fe 3+ in living cells. We estimate that the cyclic structure of D 4 vi and carbazole structure will serve as responsive sites for Fe 3+ and 4-NP, respectively. The frontier molecular orbitals of polymers were calculated by Materials Studio and the effect of the cyclic structure of D 4 vi on their responsiveness had been discussed. The design idea of the polymer sensors can provide a new direction for the synthesis of multi-response polymer fluorescent probes.