Spectral studies on anthracene based dual sensor for Hg and Al ions with two distinct output modes of detection.

A simple and easily synthesized colorimetric and fluorescent chemosensor 1, based on aromatic OH and imine moieties as a binding and anthracene as signaling unit, has been synthesized in a one-step procedure. The chemosensor 1 is developed as a dual chemosensor for detection of Hg and Al ions in CHOH, which exhibited a color change from light yellow to dark yellow with Hg ions, enabling 1 a suitable "bare eye" indicator for Hg ions. On the other hand, fluorescent enhancement with blue shift along with brilliant cyan fluorescence was observed upon binding with Al ions. A possible sensing mechanism has been proposed by means of Job's plot and H NMR titration.