Abstract
A novel aggregation induced emission (AIE) aromatic acid probe tetraphenylethene (TPE) – triazole-COOH (TTC) was synthesized via click chemistry bridging the (TPE) with ethynylpropionate followed with hydrolysis in alkaline conditions. The novel probe shows a highly specific turn-on fluorescence response toward Al3+ by the synergistic effects of triazole and the carboxyl group. Here is proposed a novel synergistic recognition mechanism. The TTC probe shows excellent aggregation induced emission aqueous dimethyl sulfoxide and may be induced to aggregate by Al3+ in this solution. A linear response between the fluorescence intensity and the concentration of Al3+ was obtained across the range from 1 µM to 6 µM with a low limit of detection equal to 1 µM.