An
efficient access toward novel tridentate ligands based on 1,7-dipyridinyl-substituted
bis-pyrazolo[3,4-
b
:4′,3′-
e
]pyridines (BPs) and their usefulness as fluorescent probes for cation
detection is reported. The synthesis proceeds by a three-step sequence
starting from 2-chloropyridine (
1
), all reactions were
performed using microwave radiation under solvent-free conditions,
and an overall yield of up to 63% was obtained. Photophysical properties
of three representative 1,7-dipyridinyl-BPs (PBPs,
6a
–
6c
) substituted at position 4 with different
donor (D) or acceptor (A) groups were investigated. Compounds exhibited
large Stokes shift in different solvents and strong blue light emission
in both solution and solid state, and quantum yields were as high
as 88% for some of them; thus, a twisted intramolecular charge transfer
(TICT) fluorescence mechanism characteristic of the 1,4,7-triaryl-BPs
was confirmed. The 4-phenyl-substituted probe (Ph-PBP,
6b
) was used successfully in the detection of some metals (Cu
2+
, Co
2+
, Ni
2+
, and Hg
2+
) by fluorescence
quenching phenomena, which could be reversed in the presence of ethylenediamine.
This probe showed a greater sensitivity toward Cu
2+
in
concentrations as low as 26 nM, and in the process of “on–off–on”
for this fluorescent molecular switch, only 1 equiv of the analyte
was used.