π-Conjugated molecules identified for reversible and visual detection of F− in aqueous: Effect of heterocycle unit on sensing performance

To illustrate the impact of molecular structure, especially heterocycle unit, on the sensing performance, two kinds of π-conjugated molecules containing aromatic heterocyclic (Dye 1) and aromatic ring (Dye 2) were identified and compared each other. Even with similar structures, they possessed quite different spectral and colorimetric responses to F−, Cl−, Br−, I−, NO3−, HSO4−, H2PO4−, ClO4− and CH3COO−, etc. The reason might result from the...