A reversible and selective chromogenic thiazole tagged chemosensor for Hg2+in aqueous medium: Crystal structure, theoretical investigations and real sample analysis

Abstract

A novel thiazole tagged Schiff base chemosensor, (E)-N'-((2-aminothiazol-5-yl)methylene)-2-hydroxybenzohydrazide (ATH) has been synthesized in excellent yield by a simple one pot method and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic techniques. The sensing ability of ATH was determined for detection of Hg2+ ions in the presence of different metal ions in aqueous medium. It behaves as an extremely selective and sensitive chromogenic sensor for naked-eye detection of Hg2+ ions with a colour change from colourless to yellow due to ligand to metal charge transfer. Remarkably, the binding constant (Ka) and limit of detection (LOD) for ATHHg2+ complex were found as 1.75 × 104M −1 and 8.85 × 10−7 M, respectively. The Job's plot indicated that the stoichiometric ratio of ATH to Hg2+ is 1:1. The binding mechanism was established based on FT-IR, 1H NMR titration, mass spectrometry and density functional theory studies. The chemosensor exhibited an excellent colorimetric property in 7.0–12.0 pH range. The chemosensor was found to be reversible and reusable in the presence of CN− ions with logic gate behaviour. Further, the chemosensor was utilized to sense Hg2+ ions in tap and Ganga river water samples.