Nitrogen atom free polythiophene derivative as an efficient chemosensor for highly selective and sensitive Cu and Ag detection.

A new nitrogen atom free polythiophene derivative bearing methoxy-ethoxy units of poly{3-[2-(2-methoxy-ethoxy)-ethoxy]-thiophene} (PM) was successfully synthesized by introducing multiple ether bonds on the thiophene unit. The special (ether bonds) coordination structure was constructed and these fluorescence characteristics of PM to metal ions detection were investigated. This polythiophene-based material displays a specific fluorescence quenching effect on Cu and Ag, and correspondingly emerges some color changes that are visible to the naked eyes. In addition, it even performs a low detection limit to Cu for only 0.45 μM, which exhibits a higher selective detection to Cu than other reported N-containing chemosenors. These discoveries are helpful to indicate an original aspect for development on nitrogen atom free polythiophene-based fluorescent-sensing materials.