Sugar alcohols, such as sorbitol, are commonly used as a replacement for sucrose in the food industry, applied as starting material for vitamin C synthesis, and involved as one of the causative factors in diabetic complications. Therefore, their detection and quantification in aqueous solution are necessary. The reversible covalent interactions between boronic acids and diols are the basis of efficient methods for the detection of saccharides. Herein, we report a new internal charge transfer (ICT) fluorene-based fluorescent boronic acid sensor (1) 2-[(9,9-dimethyl-9H-fluoren-2-yl-amino)methyl] phenyl boronic acid that shows significant fluorescence changes upon addition of saccharides. The boronic acid has high affinity (Ka =1107.9 M−1) and selectivity for sorbitol at pH= 8.31. It showed a linear response toward sorbitol in the concentration range from 1.0 ×10−5 to 6.0× 10−4 mol L−1 with the detection limit of 7.04×10−6 mol L−1. Sensor 1 was used to detect sorbitol in real samples with good recovery.
