Abstract
A new donor-π-acceptor derived from phenothiazine, namely 2-(2-((10-hexyl-10H-phenothiazin-3-yl)methylene)-3-oxo-2,3-dihydroinden-1-ylidene) malononitrile (PTZON) was synthesized and fully characterized, and its potential as a fluorescent sensor for cyanide anion was investigated. The PTZON showed a visible absorption band at 564 nm corresponds to an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) and an emission band at 589 nm in CH3CN/H2O. The results of cyanide anion titration revealed ratiometric changes in both absorption and fluorescence spectra as a result of the nucleophilic addition of cyanide anion via Michael addition. The optical studies, FT-IR spectra, NMR, high-resolution mass, and DFT calculations confirmed the sensing mechanism. The selectivity of PTZON as a cyanide anion fluorescent sensor was proved in mixed solvent solutions, and the sensitivity was as low as 0.011 µM, which is far lower than the value allowed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water (1.9 µM). Also, the detection limit of PTZON was assessed to be 3.39 μM by the spectrophotometric method. The binding stoichiometry between PTZON and cyanide anion was found to be 1:1 as evidenced by mass spectra. TLC silica-coated plates test strips demonstrated the fluorescent detection of cyanide anion.
Highlights
Cyanide anion is notoriously toxic and deadly affect human beings because of its ability to bind to the active site of cytochrome oxidase and inhibit cellular respiration [1]
Donor-π-acceptor (D-π-A) chromophores are known to have high tinctorial strength owing to the presence of an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) band
Synthesis of PTZON As shown in Scheme 1, PTZON was synthesized by the Knoevenagel condensation of 10-hexyl-10H-phenothiazine-3-carbaldehyde and 3-dicyanovinylindan-1-one
Summary
Cyanide anion is notoriously toxic and deadly affect human beings because of its ability to bind to the active site of cytochrome oxidase and inhibit cellular respiration [1]. *Correspondence: relshishtawy@kau.edu.sa; elshishtawy@hotmail.com 2 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article declared that the highest allowable level of cyanide anion concentration in the drinking water is 1.9 μM [6]. We present a new chemosensor derived from phenothiazine of donor-π-acceptor skeleton amenable for structural and optical changes upon cyanide addition with fast response.
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