Abstract
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•Development of Bi-naphthylated oxacalixarene for 2,3-DNT and 4-NT sensing.•A dual-signaling BNOC/SPCE electrochemical sensor for nitroaromatic compounds was developed.•Density Functional Theory (DFT) studies have been used to investigate the electron transitions during complexation.•The detection limit of 4-NTand 2,3-DNT was calculated to 34.1 nM and 36.7 nM respectively.
A new Bi-naphthylated oxacalix[4]arene viz. BNOC has been designed and synthesized as a potential fluorescence probe for selective recognition of 4-NT and 2,3-DNT compared to the other nitroaromatic compounds due to the geometry and hydrophobicity of the modified cavity. The interaction of BNOC with 4-NT and 2,3-DNT is confirmed by ESI-MS study. A highly sensitive dual-signaling electrochemical detection based on host–guest interaction between BNOC as signal probe and 4-NT, 2,3-DNT as target molecules was developed. The LOD for 4-NT and 2,3-DNT was determined to be 34.1 nM and 36.7 nM respectively. The concentration of 2,3-DNT and 4-NT in the water sample was determined using a standard addition procedure. Computational calculation further indicates that strong π-π interaction between host BNOC and guest NACs executes selective sensing of 4-NT and 2,3DNT.