Investigations on sensing of picric acid in aqueous medium via fluorescence quenching of quinine sulfate
This research describes systematic investigations on sensing of high explosives such as picric acid (PA), RDX, NTO, and trinitrotoluene (TNT) in aqueous medium via fluorescence quenching of quinine sulfate (QS). Although all the explosives exhibit fluorescence quenching of QS, highest response is observed for PA. Fluorescence quenching of [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]50% (in contrast to pristine QS) at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]390 nm is observed for 10 nm (2.29 [Formula: see text]g of PA dissolved in 20 [Formula: see text]l of distilled water). The analysis of the Stern–Volmer (SV) plot implies dominance of static quenching mechanism in comparison to dynamic quenching mechanism. Furthermore, the effect of operational temperature on fluoresce quenching response for PA has been investigated, and values of enthalpy, entropy, and Gibbs free energy of interaction at various temperatures are estimated. The temperature-dependent studies reveal that fluorescence quenching is due to formation of strong hydrogen bonds, complemented by computational analysis.