A supramolecular fluorescence array sensor for toxic heavy metal ion detection in environmental water and rice seedling extracts.

A supramolecular fluorescence array sensor based on cucurbituril-dye host-guest complexes (6-QAA@Q[7], PyY@Q[7], and TO@Q[8]) was constructed. The results showed that it can quickly identify and detect toxic heavy metal ions, such as Ag, Cr, Hg, Ni, and Pb. When these five toxic heavy metal ions were added to the supramolecular fluorescence array sensor, different fluorescence responses were produced due to the different binding capacities of the metal ions to the cucurbituril-dye complex. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) showed that the supramolecular fluorescence array sensor could identify and distinguish these five toxic heavy metal ions and a mixture containing different concentration ratios could be classified. The linear correlation between the metal ion concentration and factor 1 (F1) was strong, and the detection limit (LOD) was as low as 10-10 mol L. These five toxic heavy metal ions in environmental water and rice seedling extracts were identified using the supramolecular fluorescence array sensor. This sensor provides a quick and convenient method for monitoring toxic heavy metal ions in sewage.