Novel AIE and solvatochromism exhibiting TPE based organic fluorophore with excellent emission properties in solid and solution phase for latent fingerprint and metronidazole sensing in real samples

• A novel TPE based organic probe TC was synthesized in single step. • The probe TC showed solvatochromism and excellent AIE behavior. • Probe TC successfully detected metronidazole in real samples. • Spectroscopic and DFT studies show PET as the responsible sensing mechanism. Organic molecules with extended aromaticity are important when designing probes with optical properties. Herein, we designed and synthesized a novel tetraphenylethylene (TPE) based organic molecule TC exhibiting excellent photophysical characteristics. A thorough and in-depth study of the optical properties of probe TC was performed including solvatochromism, aggregation and solid-state studies using ultraviolet–visible (UV Vis ) and fluorescence spectroscopy. Also, its optical properties under a UV 365 nm laser were investigated. The compound exhibited aggregation induced emission (AIE) which was thoroughly investigated in a H 2 O/DMF system and later utilized in formulation of invisible ink and latent fingerprint sensing. Moreover, the excellent emission properties of probe TC were utilized for the highly selective detection of the antibiotic metronidazole (MET) in real samples including human serum and artificial urine. Furthermore, portable TLC and paper-based strips were designed for the on-site detection of MET. Additionally, the mechanism of selective sensing of MET was thoroughly investigated through spectroscopic studies including titration NMR, fluorescence, UV Vis studies and DFT studies. Photoinduced electron transfer (PET) was attributed as the plausible sensing mechanism for the detection of MET. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) also supported the sensing of MET through change in morphology. DFT calculations involved the measurement of thermodynamic stability, reduced density gradient (RDG) analysis, molecular orbital, and charge transfer studies as well as analysis of quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM). All the studies supported the presence of non-covalent interactions between probe TC and MET.