A rhodamine-based fluorescent sensor for selective detection of Cu2+ in aqueous media: synthesis and spectroscopic properties

Fasil Abebe; Pierce Perkins; Roosevelt Shaw; Solomon Tadesse

doi:10.1016/j.molstruc.2019.127594

A rhodamine-based fluorescent sensor for selective detection of Cu²⁺ in aqueous media: synthesis and spectroscopic properties

J Mol Struct. 2020 Apr 5:1205:127594. doi: 10.1016/j.molstruc.2019.127594. Epub 2019 Dec 16.

Authors

Fasil Abebe¹, Pierce Perkins¹, Roosevelt Shaw¹, Solomon Tadesse¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21251, USA.

Abstract

Two new chemosensors, rhodamine B derivative bearing 3-formyl-6-nitrochromone (L ₁ ) and 3-formyl-6-methylchromone (L ₂ ) units were designed and synthesized using microwave irradiation for the selective detection of Cu²⁺ in aqueous media. Copper triggers the formation of highly fluorescent ring-open spirolactam. The fluorescence intensity was remarkably increased upon the addition of Cu²⁺ within a minute, while the other metal ions caused no significant effect. More importantly, the resulting complexes can be used as a reversible fluorescence sensor for CN^-. The recognition ability of the sensors was investigated by fluorescence titration, Job's plot, ¹H NMR spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Keywords: CN−; Chromone; Cu2+; Fluorescence sensor; Microwave; Rhodamine.

Grants and funding

SC2 GM125512/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States