An ESIPT fluorescent probe based on Staudinger reaction for detection of triphenylphosphine and tetrakis(triphenyl-phosphine)palladium

Triphenylphosphine (PPh 3 ) and tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium (Pd(PPh 3 ) 4 ) are harmful at extremely low concentration, thus it is essential to explore selective and sensitive method to detect them. Based on Staudinger reaction mechanism, here we present a simple excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) fluorescent probe (HBTN) for detection of PPh 3 and Pd(PPh 3 ) 4 over other phosphine derivatives with differential channel fluorescence (enol and keto emission). The reaction-typed fluorescence probe with novel Staudinger reaction mechanism offers very low autofluorescence and a large signal-to-noise response signal, which is beneficial for the sensitive detection of PPh 3 and Pd(PPh 3 ) 4 . Moreover, HBTN can be used for efficiently detecting Pd(PPh 3 ) 4 residues in highly purified products and imaging PPh 3 in living cells.