Selective sensing of Cu (II) by a simple anthracene-based tripodal chemosensor

Abstract

Abstract A new and an easy-to-make simple tripodal shaped chemosensor 1 has been designed and synthesised for metal ions. In CH3CN containing 0.04% DMSO, upon excitation at 370 nm, chemosensor 1 exhibited structured emission centred at 418 nm, which increased to a significant extent upon complexation of Cu (II). The other metal ions except Zn2+ and Hg2+ examined in this study did not exhibit any marked change in emission of 1 under a similar condition. Although Cu2+ ion showed strong interaction with 1, Zn2+ and Hg2+ ions exhibited moderate binding. Keywords: anthracene-based sensorbenzimidazole-based chemosensorCu (II), Zn (II) and Hg (II) metal ion recognitionfluorescence enhancement Acknowledgements We thank DST, Government of India, for providing facilities in the department under FIST programme. TS thanks CSIR, New Delhi, India, for a fellowship. Notes (1) Fluorescence enhancement factor (Z) was calculated based on the equation Z=(F/F 0) [(V 0+V)/V 0] where F=observed fluorescence, F 0=fluorescence of sample before guest addition, V 0=volume before addition of guest, V=volume after addition of guest. (2) AM1 calculation was performed using minimal valence basis as STO 3G in Argus Lab 4.0.1, copyright (c) 1972-2004 Mark Thompson and Planaria Software LLC, http://www.arguslab.com