Facile synthesis of a water-soluble fluorescence sensor for Al3 + in aqueous solution and on paper substrate

In this study, a facile water-soluble fluorescence sensor 2-((2-hydroxybenzylidene)-amino)-2-(hydroxymethyl)propane-1,3-diol (ST) was synthesized via one-step reaction, and its fluorescence sensing performance for Al 3   + both in aqueous solution and on paper substrate was evaluated. The results showed that ST exhibited an specific fluorescence “turn-on” response to Al 3   + over other cations in aqueous solution as well as on the test paper. The limit of detection was found to be 3.2   ×   10 −   7   M, which revealed that the obtained Schiff-base based fluorescence chemosensor ST possessed a great potential for the rapid, quantitative and qualitative detection of Al 3   + .