Highly selective recognition of fluoride anion through direct deprotonation of intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded phenolic hydroxyl groups

A novel chemosensor for fluoride anion has been developed. This sensor, constructed by merging six phenolyl units into a hexaazatriphenylene (HAT) core, could recognize F− visually and spectroscopically with high selectivity over other anions, which was demonstrated by naked-eye experiment and UV–vis absorption spectroscopy study.