Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Namibia, 340 Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue, Windhoek, 9000, Namibia.
J Fluoresc. 2021 Jul;31(4):999-1008. doi: 10.1007/s10895-021-02734-z. Epub 2021 Apr 20.
The field of chemosensing has been experiencing an exponential expansion in recent times, due to increased demands for simpler and user-friendly analytical techniques, in order to combat and confront the challenges of industrial pollutions in the twenty-first century. Metal complex-based chemosensors have received little attention while exhibiting excellent sensing properties, comparing to their organic counterparts. Thus, a thiosemicarbazone-based (H) and its cadmium complex (P) were synthesized, characterized and their photophysical and chemosensing properties were investigated in DMF solvent. The addition of molar equivalents of selected cations (of nitrates or chloride salts) to H and P, produced visually detectable colour changes as well as remarkable spectral shifts. Explicitly, the two probes (H and P) were able to collectively discriminate heavy metal cations such as Cd, Co, Zn, Cu, Ni and Ag, both in DMF, among all other heavy metal cations tested. None of the anions could be detected by H or P, even when the tetrabutylammonium salts (TBAs) were used, the action presumably ascribed to the solvent effect. Thus, H and P can be used to selectively and sensitively detect the presence of heavy metal cations, via naked-eye detectable colour changes in an aqueous soluble solvent such as DMF.
近年来，由于需要更简单、更易用的分析技术来应对 21 世纪工业污染的挑战，化学传感领域经历了指数级的扩张。与有机同类物相比，基于金属配合物的化学传感器虽然表现出优异的传感性能，但却很少受到关注。因此，合成了一种基于缩氨基硫脲的配体（H）及其镉配合物（P），并在 DMF 溶剂中研究了它们的光物理和化学传感性质。向 H 和 P 中加入等摩尔当量的选定阳离子（硝酸盐或氯化物盐），会产生可见的颜色变化和显著的光谱位移。具体来说，这两种探针（H 和 P）能够在 DMF 中共同区分 Cd、Co、Zn、Cu、Ni 和 Ag 等重金属阳离子，而在所有其他测试的重金属阳离子中则没有。即使使用四丁基铵盐（TBAs），H 或 P 也无法检测到任何阴离子，这可能归因于溶剂效应。因此，H 和 P 可以用于选择性和灵敏地检测水溶液（如 DMF）中重金属阳离子的存在，通过肉眼可见的颜色变化来实现。
