Fluorescence-active chemosensors (L1-L4), comprising a rhodamine scaffold and a pseudo azacrown cation-binding subunit, have been proposed and characterized as a fluorescent chemosensor for Hg(2+). An on-off type fluorescent enhancement was observed by the formation of the ring-opened amide form of the rhodamine moiety, which was induced by the interactions between Hg(2+) and the chemosensor. Upon the addition of Hg(2+), an overall emission change of 350-fold was observed, and the selectivity was calculated to be 300 times higher than Cu(2+) for receptors L2-L4. A polymeric thin film can be obtained by doping poly(methyl methacrylate) or PMMA with chemosensor L2. Such a thin film sensor can be used to detect Hg(2+) with high sensitivity and can be recovered using diluted NaOH.

A reversible rhodamine-based sensor (L1) capable of undergoing excimer-fluorescent resonance energy transfer (E m -FRET) was designed and synthesized using a ditopic receptor strategy. Addition of Cu 2+ ions to a solution of L1 induced a ring-open conformation of spirolactam (E m -FRET ON), whilst ring closure was induced upon addition of CH 3 COO À (E m -FRET OFF). Fig. 1 Spectral overlap between naphthyl emission (black) and ringopened rhodamine B absorption (red).

Two BODIPY derivative sensors for metal ion recognition containing 10-(4-hydroxyphenyl) (L1) and 10-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl) (L2) were synthesized in a one-pot reaction of benzaldehyde derivative and 2,4-dimethylpyrrole in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid as catalyst. The binding abilities between these sensors and 50 equivalents of Na(+), K(+), Ag(+), Ca(2+), Fe(2+), Co(2+), Ni(2+), Cu(2+), Zn(2+), Cd(2+), Pb(2+), Al(3+) and Cr(3+) ions were studied using UV-vis and fluorescent spectroscopic methods. Of all the metal ions tested, Al(3+) ion showed the greatest decrease in intensity in the spectra of the sensors, and therefore Al(3+) ion forms the strongest complex. The binding abilities of BODIPY receptors with Na(+), Ag(+), Ca(2+), Co(2+), Ni(2+), Cu(2+), Zn(2+) and Al(3+) ions were also investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations at B3LYP/LanL2DZ theoretical level. The calculated results point to the same conclusion. DFT calculations also provided the HOMO-LUMO energy levels, which can explain the spectrum change upon complexation.

The thiourea based receptor containing naphthalene groups (1), has been successfully designed and synthesized for application as an oxalate receptor. A density functional theory at B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level of theory has been applied to predict the binding ability between 1 and selected anions, i.e., oxalate, malonate, succinate, glutarate, dihydrogen phosphate, and hydrogen sulphate. Calculation results point out that receptor 1 shows the strongest interaction to oxalate ion with the binding free energy of 172.48 kcal mol(-1). The recognition ability of 1 to the selected anions has been also investigated by means of the absorption and emission techniques. Experimental results are in excellent agreement with the calculation data in which receptor 1 shows highly selective for oxalate ion over the other anions with logbeta of 3.82 (0.02) M(-1) by means of the size of binding cavity.

No abstract