Fluorescent Probes for Detection of Environmental Contaminants (NACs & VOCs): Probe Design from a Supramolecular Perspective

Fresh air and clean water are essential constituents for the human population as well as for fauna and flora. Owing to the extreme toxicity of NACs and VOCs in physiological systems and their widespread presence in the environment, serious mitigation is required. The innovation of chemosensors for these two types of harmful organic contaminants (NACs i. e., nitroaromatics, and VOCs i. e., volatile organic compounds) have unfolded as a key research topic in recent decades, garnering a lot of attention due to their environmental, industrial and biological importance. In recent years, there has been a significant amount of research on both NACs and VOCs chemosensors. This Review article has recapitulated the latest development of fluorescent chemosensors especially small molecular frameworks from 2015 to 2022, for NACs and VOCs which has been discussed individually. In addition, the detection of NACs and VOCs on multiple platforms with a special focus on their mechanistic exploration, as well as their probable applications in natural water body specimens, vapor phase detection, and paper strip analysis have also been discussed.