Literature
reveals that pharmaceuticals and derived metabolites
are released continuously into the environment from point and nonpoint
sources. Urban domestic effluents are the largest pathway of environmental
pharmaceutical contamination and, thus, require improved treatment
techniques to monitor and eliminate such contaminants from water and
wastewater. In this regard, the present investigation describes the
development of a self-assembled chemosensor using an azodye-based
imine linked Co2+ complex (R1.Co
2+
) that exhibits the potential for ratiometric and
colorimetric quantification of AMX in buffer/aqueous media with a
limit of detection = 0.717 μM and a limit of quantification
= 4.14 μM. Further, the mechanism of detection of amoxicillin
(AMX) has been explored through electrochemical studies, which reveals
the oxidation of AMX by R1.Co
2+
complex selectively, without any interference from other active
analytes. The FE-SEM image reveals that the probe R1.Co
2+
undergoes analyte-induced self-assembly,
when interacting with AMX. Apparently, the R1.Co
2+
complex was immobilized onto polyether sulfone
(PES) membrane and evaluated for removal of AMX from environmental
wastewater with adsorption capacity = 450.1 mg g–1 and removal efficiency = 90%. Moreover, the developed hybrid membrane
can also be utilized as a solid-state colorimetric sensor of AMX,
as revealed by the hue, saturation, and value (HSV) parameter model
through a portable mobile-based prototype.