Controllable and reversible sensing cyanide ion using dual-functional Cu(II)-based ensemble

Jun Wang; Jinjun He; Jinsheng Zhang; Zhiming Chen; Jinfu Liang; Lin Chen

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2021.119526

Controllable and reversible sensing cyanide ion using dual-functional Cu(II)-based ensemble

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2021 May 5:252:119526. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2021.119526. Epub 2021 Feb 2.

Authors

Jun Wang¹, Jinjun He², Jinsheng Zhang², Zhiming Chen², Jinfu Liang³, Lin Chen²

Affiliations

¹ Key Lab of Functional Materials Chemistry of Guizhou Province, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550025, China. Electronic address: beyoundme@126.com.
² Key Lab of Functional Materials Chemistry of Guizhou Province, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550025, China.
³ School of Physics and Electronic Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550025, China.

PMID: 33582438
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2021.119526

Abstract

In this work, a dual-functional Cu²⁺-based ensemble (2S·Cu²⁺) was well designed and characterized. Then, the successional and discriminating sensing for CN^- over other competitive species (H₂PO₄^- and biothiols) was achieved based on the disaggregation of 2S·Cu²⁺ ensemble and the deprotonation of imidazole NH of regenerated sensor S in aqueous solution, respectively. The visual sensing mechanism could be clearly demonstrated by ¹H NMR, HRMS and energy changes between the HOMO-LUMO band gaps. Furthermore, the reversibility and reusability of S and 2S·Cu²⁺ upon alternating addition of CN^-/H⁺ and CN^-/Cu²⁺ were studied. Interestingly, the sequential sensing for biothiols (cysteine, glutathione and homocysteine) and CN^- was also realized through spectroscopic methodology and test paper strips. This work may provide a feasible strategy to discriminate CN^- over H₂PO₄^- and biothiols with high selectivity and sensitivity through Cu²⁺-based ensembles.

Keywords: Biothiols; Cyanide; Deprotonation; Ensemble; Indicator displacement approach.