Construction of an Internal Standard Ratiometric Al3+ Selective Fluorescent Probe Based on Rhodamine B-Modified Naphthalimide-Grafted Chitosan Polymer

Most reported fluorescent Al3+ probes rely on fluorescence signal enhancement or quenching. Since the change in fluorescence intensity is the sole detection signal, various factors such as instrumental efficiency, environmental conditions, and probe concentration can interfere with the signal output. In contrast, ratiometric probes, which utilize two emission bands for self-calibration, provide significant advantages by minimizing or eliminating these uncertainties. In this study, a naphthalimide-rhodamine based the transition between the cyclic and open-ring forms of rhodamine as an Al3+-selective ratiometric probe, in which chitosan was identified as an ideal bridge and biocompatibility. The design concept was that when the target metal ion was present, the fluorescence intensity of naphthalimide remained largely unchanged, serving as an internal standard. In contrast, rhodamine B was employed to label the target molecules, with its fluorescence intensity varying in accordance with the target concentration. A series of experiments were carried out to investigate the fluorometric properties of the grafted polymer P. The results demonstrated that P exhibited selective interaction with Al3+ among the various metals tested. Using the fluorescence intensity ratio (I603 nm/I538 nm) of P, a good linear relationship was achieved for Al3+ concentrations ranging from 1.0 to 35.0 μM with a detection limit of 0.33 μM was obtained. Meanwhile, we employed the standard addition method for the quantitative analysis and detection of Al3+ in commercially available bottled water and tap water, achieving an ideal recovery rate.