A novel conjugated polymer fluorescence probe for the detection of copper ions in aqueous media

A novel ionic conjugated polymer fluorescent probe (IP) containing fluorenyls and imines was synthesized through a simple condensation method for the rapid detection of Cu2+. The probe exhibited a selective quenching response toward Cu2+ over other common metal ions in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at a pH of 7. Moreover, the fluorescence intensity of IP was linearly proportional to the concentration of Cu2+ when it ranged from 1 to 10 μM, and the limit of detection for Cu2+ was 0.45 μM. Furthermore, the quenched fluorescence of IP by Cu2+ was recovered after adding amino acids or ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), indicating that the probe could be recycled and is promising to reduce the detection cost of Cu2+ in real samples.