A facile strategy to construct versatile fluorescent probes for the detection of Au3+ and nitroaromatic

Herein, p-phenylseleno styrene (p-PhSeSt) and 4-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)phenyl acrylate (TPE-a) were copolymerized by photo-induced reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization under blue light at room temperature. The selenide moiety in resulting copolymers could be selectively oxidized to selenoxide or selenone groups by H2O2 or NaClO, respectively, which caused the changing of structure and performance of the copolymer. The structure changing of copolymers during the oxidation was characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance and size exclusion chromatography. Properties of the resulting polymers were systematically investigated before and after oxidation, such as thermal performance, glass transition temperature, water contact angles and refractive indices. In addition, due to the change of hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity of the polymers in aqueous solution after oxidation, the detection of Au3+ and nitrobenzene were successfully realized, constructing a versatile and multifunctional fluorescent probe sensor, which provides potential application prospects for the detection of oxidations.