Luminescent Metal–Organic Framework-Based Fluorescent Sensor Array for Screening and Discrimination of Bisphenols

Extensive applications of bisphenols in industrial products have led to their release into aquatic environments, causing a great threat to human health due to their endocrine-disrupting effects, whereas existing methods are difficult to implement the rapid and high-throughput detection of multiple bisphenols. To circumvent this issue, we constructed a sensor array using two luminescent metal-organic frameworks (LMOFs) (Zr-BUT-12 and Ga-MIL-61) for the rapid discrimination of six bisphenol contaminants (BPA, BPS, BPB, BPF, BPAF, and TBBPA). Wherein, Zr-BUT-12 and Ga-MIL-61 exhibited different fluorescence-emission properties and good luminescent stability. Interestingly, bisphenols with different structures had diverse quenching effects on the fluorescence intensity of Zr-BUT-12 and Ga-MIL-61 via the adsorptive interaction, resulting in unique fluorescent fingerprints. Based on pattern recognition methods, different bisphenols were successfully identified, with the limit of detection in the range of 1.59-16.7 ng/mL for six bisphenols. More importantly, the developed sensor array could be effectively utilized for distinguishing different ratios of mixed bisphenols, which was further applied for bisphenol discrimination in real water samples. Consequently, our finding provides a promising strategy for the simultaneous recognition of multiple bisphenols, which encourages the development of a sensor array for the detection of multiple contaminants in environmental monitoring and food safety.