Acetylacetone as A Potential Chemosensor for Rapid Detection of Cu(II) in Aqueous Media

Abstract

Monitoring of Cu(II) ions is one of the most critical issues in wastewater treatment. Since the application of diketone-derived compounds as the Cu(II) chemosensor has not been addressed yet, in this present work, acetylacetone (penta-2,4-dione) was employed as the chemosensor to detect Cu(II) ions in the aqueous media. Ultraviolet (UV)-visible spectra showed that the blue colored-Cu(II) solution gave absorption at 811 nm, while the acetylacetone only gave absorption at UV region of 272 nm. Interestingly, the blue Cu(II) solution immediately turned to green solution after the addition of Cu(II) solution into the ligand solution, giving a new peak at 748 nm due to formation of Cu(II)-acetylacetone complex. This large blue shifting suggested the potential application of the acetylacetone as a colorimetric sensor of Cu(II), which gives benefit in the rapid detection. The limit of detection (LoD) and limit of quantification (LoQ) were found to be 0.15 and 0.51 mM, respectively. Furthermore, the presence of other metal ions, such as Na(I), K(I), Mg(II), Mn(II), Ni(II), Al(III), Au(III) and La(III), could be neglected since they gave low extents of interferences up to less than 10%. These results demonstrated that the acetylacetone is a potential chemosensor for Cu(II) detection in the aquatic environment.