Cobalt complexes of amide‐based ligands appended with protonated heterocyclic rings are utilized as the earth‐abundant catalysts for the transfer hydrogenation of assorted carbonyl compounds using isopropanol as the hydrogen source. The most successful complex illustrated remarkable catalytic performance towards a wide range of aldehydes and ketones, quantitatively yielding primary and secondary alcohols as the products, respectively. The catalysis scope also included a few biologically relevant substrates such as furfural, vanillin, ortho‐vanillin, coumarin and chalcone. The substrate binding, Hammett, kinetic and DFT studies provided the mechanistic insights.

In this work, two Schiff-base-based chemosensors L1 and L2 containing electron-rich quinoline and anthracene rings were designed. L1 is AIEE active in a MeOH-H2O solvent system while formed aggregates as confirmed by the DLS measurements and fluorescence lifetime studies. The chemosensor L1 was used for the sensitive, selective, and reversible ‘turn-on’ detection of Al3+ and Ga3+ ions as well as Aspartic Acid (Asp). Chemosensor L2, an isomer of L1, was able to selectively detect Ga3+ ion even in the presence of Al3+ ions and thus was able to discriminate between the two ions. The binding mode of chemosensors with analytes was substantiated through a combination of 1H NMR spectra, mass spectra, and DFT studies. The ‘turn-on’ nature of fluorescence sensing by the two chemosensors enabled the development of colorimetric detection, filter-paper-based test strips, and polystyrene film-based detection techniques.