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A Highly Selective Fluorescent Chemosensor for Al3+ Based on 2,2’:6’,2”-Terpyridine with a Salicylal Schiff Base

Abstract

Two 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine-based Schiff bases (TPySSB and TPySB) have been synthesized. The TPySSB shows remarkable selective ‘off-on’ fluorescence for Al3+ in combination with photoinduced electron transfer (PET) mechanism and C=N isomerization mechanism. Chemosensor TPySSB binds Al3+ in a 1:2 ratio with an association constant 6.8 × 105 (correlation coefficient (R2) = 0.98) and this 1:2 stoichiometric model is established on Job’s plot and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Comparing TPySSB and TPySB, it is of great importance the existence of oxygen atom of hydroxyl group in salicylidene due to its strong binding abilities of both phenol and C=N structure to the Al3+.

Keywords:
2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine; salicylidene Schiff bases; fluorescence sensor; Al3+


Introduction

Al3+ ions exist in natural waters and most plants, which can enter the human body through food and water. 11 Berthon, G. ; Coord. Chem. Rev. 2008, 149, 241. Since Al3+ is closely related to human health, much attention have been paid to developing new high selectivity and sensitivity fluorescent chemosensors to detect Al3+. 22 Liang, C. ; Bu, W. ; Li, C. ; Men, G. ; Deng, M. ; Jiangyao, Y. ; Sun, H. ; Jiang, S. ; Dalton Trans. 2008, 44, 11352; Li, H. ; Wang, J. ; Zhang, S. ; Gong, C. ; Wang, F. ; RSC Adv. 2008, 8, 31889; Sun, J. ; Ye, B. ; Xia, G. ; Wang, H. ; Sens. Actuators, B 2008, 249, 386; Shu, Y. L. ; Zhang, D. B. ; Jin, Y. W. ; Rui, M. L. ; Zheng, C. H. ; Shou, Z. P. ; Sens. Actuators, B 2008, 245, 263. At present, fluorescent chemosensors have been widely used to detect different metal ions because of their high sensitivity, selectivity and fast response time. 33 Li, J. ; Hu, Q. ; Yu, X. ; Zeng, Y. ; Cao, C. ; Liu, X. ; Guo, J. ; Pan, Z. ; J. Fluoresc. 2008, 21, 2005; Piyanuch, P. ; Watpathomsub, S. ; Lee, V. S. ; Nienaber, H. A. ; Wanichacheva, N. ; Sens. Actuators, B 2008, 224, 201; Li, J. ; Zeng, Y. ; Hu, Q. ; Yu, X. ; Guo, J. ; Pan, Z. ; Dalton Trans. 2008, 41, 3623; Sinha, S. ; Chowdhury, B. ; Ghosh, P. ; Inorg. Chem. 2008, 55, 9212. Typically, metal ion chemosensors are composed of a metal binding unit and signaling unit, which enable the fluorescent chemosensors to coordinate with metal ions. Later on, fluorescent sensors based on a large number of metal binding units with different structures, including pyrazoline,44 Hu, S. ; Song, J. ; Wu, G. ; Cheng, C. ; Gao, Q. ; Spectrochim. Acta, Part A 2008, 136, 1188. peptide,55 In, B. ; Hwang, G. W. ; Lee, K. ; Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2008, 26, 4477. salicylimine,66 Wang, H. ; Wang, B. ; Shi, Z. ; Tang, X. ; Dou, W. ; Han, Q. ; Zhang, Y. ; Liu, W. ; Biosens. Bioelectron. 2008, 65, 91. tetrazole,77 Ding, W. ; Cao, W. ; Zheng, X. ; Ding, W. ; Qiao, J. ; Jin, L. ; Dalton Trans. 2008, 43, 6429. triazole,88 Bian, G. ; Guo, Y. ; Lv, X. ; Zhang, C. ; J. Mol. Struct. 2008, 1111, 1. 4,5-diazafluorene99 Zhang, S. J. ; Li, H. ; Gong, C. L. ; Wang, J. Z. ; Wu, Z. Y. ; Wang, F. ; Synth. Met. 2008, 217, 37; Li, H. ; Zhang, S. ; Gong, C. ; Wang, J. ; Wang, F. ; J. Fluoresc. 2008, 26, 1555. and 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine (TPy)1010 Chao, D. ; Ni, S. ; Mu, W. ; Chem. Lett. 2008, 45, 27; Li, L. ; Du, L. -t. ; Sun, J. ; Yan, C. -g. ; Chem. Res. Chin. Univ. 2008, 29, 874; Hu, Q. ; Tan, Y. ; Liu, M. ; Yu, J. ; Cui, Y. ; Yang, Y. ; Dyes Pigm. 2008, 107, 45. have been developed. Among these receptors, 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine moiety is an ideal model for the construction of fluorescence sensors because of its excellent coordination ability with various metal ions. 1111 Sun, S. ; Wang, C. ; Han, S. ; Jiao, T. ; Wang, R. ; Yin, J. ; Li, Q. ; Wang, Y. ; Geng, L. ; Yu, X. ; Colloids Surf. , A 2008, 564, 1. Indeed, it has become one of the most important chemical sensors in supramolecular chemistry. There are reports1212 Abdalrahman, M. A. ; Abebe, F. ; Briggs, J. ; Kassel, W. S. ; Burdette, S. C. ; Seitz, W. R. ; Planalp, R. P. ; J. Coord. Chem. 2008, 70, 1123; Jing, S. ; Zheng, C. ; Pu, S. ; Fan, C. ; Liu, G. ; Dyes Pigm. 2008, 107, 38; Li, P. ; Xiao, H. ; Tang, B. ; Chin. J. Chem. 2008, 30, 1992; Bhaumik, C. ; Das, S. ; Maity, D. ; Baitalik, S. ; Dalton Trans. 2008, 40, 11795. about the detection of anion and cation by 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine based fluorescent chemosensor. However, there is still no report of a sensor that can detect Al3+ by 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine derivatives. Therefore, the design and preparation of 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine based fluorescent chemosensors are necessary for the construction and development of sensors for detecting Al3+ with high selectivity and sensitivity.

Salicylidene Schiff bases (SSB) have attracted increasing attention because they enable simple and inexpensive determinations of various metal ions. Over the past decades, it has been demonstrated that the presence of phenolic OH and azomethine C=N double bond in Schiff base exhibit a strong affinity for transition metal ions. 1313 Fang, B. ; Liang, Y. ; Chen, F. ; Talanta 2008, 119, 601; Gou, C. ; Wu, H. ; Jiang, S. ; Yi, C. ; Luo, J. ; Liu, X. ; Chem. Lett. 2008, 40, 1082. Due to the formation of the chelatogenic cycle (metal-oxygen-nitrogen chain), the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) was highly improved between the p-conjugated rings. Mostly, these kinds of molecules display unique emission enhancement due to the inhibition of C=N isomerization. 1414 Wu, J. -S. ; Liu, W. -M. ; Zhuang, X. -Q. ; Wang, F. ; Wang, P. -F. ; Tao, S. -L. ; Zhang, X. -H. ; Wu, S. -K. ; Lee, S. -T. ; Org. Lett. 2008, 9, 33.,1515 Maity, D. ; Govindaraju, T. ; Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2008, 2011, 5479. Therefore, combination of 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine and salicylidene Schiff base into a unique entity can produce an interesting system with very peculiar coordination properties. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of two new 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine Schiff base TPySSB and TPySB. Their binding properties toward metal ions have been investigated. The salicylidene Schiff base TPySSB could be used as a highly efficient fluorescence probes for Al3+ with high selectivity. As being fluorescence chemosensor, TPySSB with phenolic OH group shows better Al3+ sensing properties than TPySB due to the formation of terpyridine-Al3+ complex and the inhibition of C=N isomerization.

Results and Discussion

Synthesis and characterization

Synthesis procedure of the Schiff base derivatives TPySSB and TPySB is shown inScheme 1. Compound TPySSB (or TPySB) was synthesized through condensation reaction between 4’-amine-2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridines and salicylaldehyde (or benzaldehyde) in refluxing methanol. The products obtained in high yield were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), mass spectroscopy (MS), 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The FTIR spectra (Figure S1, Supplementary Information (SI) section) of compounds TPySSB and TPySB display the characteristic peaks of C=N vibration at 1622 and 1620 cm-1, respectively. A broad band centered at 3428 cm-1 is detected in TPySSB absorption spectra, which is attributed to O-H stretching vibration. The 1H NMR spectra of TPySSB and TPySB in acetone-d6 fit well with the expected molecular structure. The chemical shift of -CH=N proton in the spectrum of TPySB is about 8.62 ppm (Figure S4, SI section). The chemical shift of -CH=N proton shifted downfield about 8.96 ppm comparing with that of TPySSB (Figure S2, SI section). 1616 Chalmardi, G. B. ; Tajbakhsh, M. ; Hasa, N. ; Bekhradnia, A. ; Tetrahedron 2008, 74, 2251. A singlet at 13.18 ppm corresponding to -OH is displayed in the spectrum of TPySSB, confirming the existence of an intermolecular hydrogen bonding of the phenol OH. 1717 Wu, J. -S. ; Zhou, J. -H. ; Wang, P. -F. ; Zhang, X. -H. ; Wu, S. -K. ; Org. Lett. 2008, 7, 2133.

Scheme 1
Synthesis of TPySSB and TPySB.

Recognition experiment of Schiff base (TPySSB and TPySB) in the presence of various metal ions

To compare the fluorescence response behavior of Schiff base (TPySSB and TPySB) in the presence of multiple types of metal ions, the recognition experiment of Schiff base (TPySSB and TPySB) was performed in ethanol at room temperature. As shown in Figure 1a, TPySSB with (or without) other cations displayed a weak single fluorescence emission band at 528 nm when it was excited at 265 nm except for Al3+ and Pb2+. Upon the addition of Al3+, an obvious fluorescence enhancement at 516 nm on TPySSB is achieved due to the inhibited photo-induced electron transfer (PET)1818 Kopchuk, D. S. ; Prokhorov, A. M. ; Slepukhin, P. A. ; Kozhevnikov, D. N. ; Tetrahedron Lett. 2008, 53, 6265. with the formation of TPySSB-Al3+ and the inhibition of C=N isomerization process. 1414 Wu, J. -S. ; Liu, W. -M. ; Zhuang, X. -Q. ; Wang, F. ; Wang, P. -F. ; Tao, S. -L. ; Zhang, X. -H. ; Wu, S. -K. ; Lee, S. -T. ; Org. Lett. 2008, 9, 33.,1515 Maity, D. ; Govindaraju, T. ; Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2008, 2011, 5479. The Stokes shifts (12 nm) of TPySSB and TPySSB-Al3+ complex are attributable to their stronger intramolecular charge transfer. 1919 Li, Z. ; Wu, S. ; J. Fluoresc. 2008, 7, 237. The selectivity of TPySSB has been plotted as a bar graph in Figure 1b. It can be found that Al3+ produces the most conspicuous fluorescence enhancement (51-fold at 516 nm), although Pb2+ can also induce about 5-fold increase, which indicated the Schiff base TPySSB as a fluorescent sensor for Al3+ is highly selective. To further evaluate the proposed complexation model and study the role of oxygen atom of phenol group in salicylidene during its interactions with metal cations, compound TPySB (Scheme 1) was also synthesized. It possesses similar structure of TPySSB except for lack of phenol group. TPySB alone displayed two weak fluorescence emission bands at 329 and 410 nm after being excited at 258 nm. However, upon addition of various metal ions, significant changes in fluorescence intensity appears at 329 nm (for Ag+, Cu2+, Fe3+, Fe2+, Cr2+ and Al3+) or 410 nm (for Co2+, Mn2+, Mg2+, Pb2+, Sr2+ and Zn2+) except for alkali metals such as Na+, K+ and Li+ (Figure 1c), indicating the enhancement effect of fluorescence accompanied by formation of metal-ligand complexes. These results prove that terpyridine ligand have strong ability to coordinate with metal ions. By analyzing the structure of TPySSB and TPySB, we can draw the following deductions: (i) the chelation of nitrogen atom of 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine with Al3+ initiates the PET process efficiently; (ii) the interaction between the oxygen atom of phenol unit present in salicylidene moiety and Al3+ can lead to the inhibition of C=N isomerization1414 Wu, J. -S. ; Liu, W. -M. ; Zhuang, X. -Q. ; Wang, F. ; Wang, P. -F. ; Tao, S. -L. ; Zhang, X. -H. ; Wu, S. -K. ; Lee, S. -T. ; Org. Lett. 2008, 9, 33. due to strong binding abilities of both phenol and C=N structure to the Al3+,2020 Xu, H. ; Tao, X. ; Li, Y. ; Shen, Y. ; Wei, Y. ; Spectrochim. Acta, Part A 2008, 91, 375. which can be used to explain the reason for the excellent performance of the TPySSB, which is designed by combining 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine unit and salicylidene unit. The effect of pH on the fluorescence properties of the system is shown in Figure S5 (SI section). It is obvious that the biggest emission enhancement upon addition of Al3+ could be obtained when pH was adjusted to 9.0. Furthermore, under this condition, the fluorescent intensity at 516 nm is observed to increase markedly over time (Figure S6, SI section), indicating that probe TPySSB takes a long reaction time to realize detection of Al3+. The reversibility of sensor TPySSB (1 × 10-5 mol L-1) has been evaluated by the titration of Al3+ (1 × 10-4 mol L-1) and ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA, 1 × 10-4 mol L-1) (Figure S7, SI section). The whole process was repeated three times, by alternating Al3+ (1 × 10-4 mol L-1) and EDTA (1 × 10-4 mol L-1). The emission of the TPySSB-Al3+ could be basically recovered, though small drifts for both turn-off and turn-on fluorescent signals were detected.

Figure 1
(a) Fluorescence spectra of the TPySSB (1 × 10−5 mol L−1) in the presence of 10 equiv. of various metal ions in ethanol. Excitation wavelength: 265 nm; (b) fluorescence emission response profiles for TPySSB (1 × 10−5 mol L−1) by adding various metal ions (1 × 10−4 mol L−1) at 516 nm in ethanol; (c) fluorescence spectra of the TPySB (1 × 10−5 mol L−1) in the presence of 10 equiv. of various metal ions in ethanol. Excitation wavelength: 258 nm; (d) fluorescence emission response profiles for TPySB (1 × 10−5 mol L−1) by adding various metal ions (1 × 10−4 mol L−1) at 329 nm in ethanol.

Selectivity study of Schiff base (TPySSB and TPySB) for Al3+ over competitive metal ions

The selectivity of chemosensor for Al3+ in comparison to other competing metal ions is indispensable in evaluating its sensing performance. To further confirm the high selectivity of chemosensor TPySSB for Al3+, competitive selectivity tests of chemosensor TPySSB toward various metal ions were performed in ethanol. In a single metal system (black bars, Figure 2), the concentrations of metal ions were set to be 100 µM towards TPySSB. However, for the dual-metal (red bars, Figure 2) studies, aqueous solutions of Al3+ (100 µM) and the other metal ions (100 µM) were combined. Relatively low interferences were observed for the detection of Al3+ in the presence of other metal ions, except for Fe3+ (Figure 2). Comparing competitive selectivity experiments of chemosensor TPySSB, high interferences are demonstrated on chemosensor TPySB in the existence of other metal ions, except for alkali metals such as Na+, K+ and Li+ (Figure S8, SI section). The unique selectivity of TPySSB towards Al3+ could be attributed to the strong ability to coordinate with Al3+ of 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine unit and salicylidene unit.

Figure 2
Fluorescence response of receptor TPySSB (1 × 10−5 mol L−1). The black bar represents emission intensity after adding 10 equiv. selected metal ions in ethanol solution and red bar represents emission intensity after adding 10 equiv. of Al3+ ions in each of the above samples. Excitation wavelength: 265 nm.

Fluorescence titration of Schiff base (TPySSB) in the presence of increasing concentration of Al3+

Fluorescence titration experiments were implemented to gain insight into the binding interaction between TPySSB with Al3+. Increasing the concentration of Al3+, it resulted in a very small (8 nm) blue-shift of the emission maxima with a 14-fold enhancement of the fluorescence intensity (Figure 3a). The calibration curve is linear from 30 to 90 µM with a correlation coefficient of 0.990 (Figure 3b).

Figure 3
(a) Fluorescence emission spectra of receptor TPySSB (1 × 10−5 mol L−1) in ethanol solution upon addition of increasing concentration of Al3+ (3-9 equiv.). Excitation wavelength: 265 nm; (b) fluorescence intensity at 516 nm versus the number of equivalents of Al3+ added.

Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) titration of Schiff base (TPySSB) in the presence of increasing concentration of Al3+

The chemosensor TPySSB toward various metal cations, Ag+, Ba2+, Ca2+, Cd2+, Co2+, Cr3+, Cu2+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Hg2+, K+, Mn2+, Na+, Ni2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ are investigated by UV-Vis spectroscopy in ethanol. The absorption spectrum of chemosensor TPySSB displayed three absorbance peaks. The intense absorption bands in high energy region at 210 and 275 nm are attributed to the π-π* transitions of the terpyridine unit,2121 Tang, Y. ; Cui, S. ; Pu, S. ; J. Fluoresc. 2008, 26, 1421. while a broad band located between 300 and 400 nm could be ascribed to π ® π* transition of the C=N group from salicylidene moiety. 2222 Zhang, C. ; Pu, S. ; Sun, Z. ; Fan, C. ; Liu, G. ; J. Phys. Chem. B 2008, 119, 4673. With the increasing concentration of Al3+, a 14 nm red-shift for the 210 nm band appears on the UV-Vis spectrum, which is the reflectance of inhibition effect of Al3+ on the C=N isomerization. The complex can change the C=N isomerization molecular conformation dramatically, leading to a molecular coplanar structure. 1919 Li, Z. ; Wu, S. ; J. Fluoresc. 2008, 7, 237. The absorption maximum at 350 nm decreased which was attributed to the form of TPySSB-Al3+ complex (Figure 4b). What is more, no significant absorption spectral change was observed for other cations under similar experimental conditions (Figure 4a).

Figure 4
(a) UV-Vis spectra of the TPySSB (1 × 10−5 mol L−1) in the presence of 10 equiv. of various metal ions in ethanol; (b) change in absorption spectra of TPySSB (1 × 10−5 mol L−1) upon addition of increasing concentration of Al3+ (0-10 equiv.) in ethanol.

Job’s plot measurements

To further explore the binding mechanism, the binding stoichiometry of TPySSB with Al3+ was investigated via Job’s plot of the fluorescence titrations of Al3+, and the total concentration of Al3+ and TPySSB was kept as 20 µM as shown in Figure 5. The maximum absorption was achieved at the molar fraction of 0.7, indicating a 1:2 stoichiometric complexation between TPySSB and Al3+ for the newly formed complex. The binding stoichiometry of TPySB with Al3+ was also investigated and the results indicated a 1:1 stoichiometric complexation between TPySB and Al3+ (Figure S9, SI section). Therefore, the introduction of the phenolic OH into the 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine-based Schiff base has led to new chemosensor with highly selective detection of Al3+.

Figure 5
Job’s plot for the complexation of TPySSB with Al3+ in ethanol. Total concentration of TPySSB and Al3+ is 20 μM.

Determination of association constant and limit of detection

Based on the fluorescence titration of TPySSB with Al3+, the association constant is determined to be 6.8 × 105 M-1 (Figure 6) by a Benesi-Hildebrand equation. The binding constants of the inclusion complex were obtained from the fluorescence titration data. According to the Benesi-Hildebrand method, the equation for a 1:2 host:guest complex is given below:

Figure 6
Hill plot of fluorescent probe (TPySSB-Al3+) at λem = 516 nm.

(1) log I I min I max I = log M 2 log K d

where Kd is the dissociation constant and M represents concentrations of metals. Imin, I and Imax are the different fluorescence emission intensity at λmax = 516 nm at initial, interval and final state of the complex, respectively. Association constant Ka were evaluated graphically by the plot of log IImin/ImaxIversus log [(Al3+)22 Liang, C. ; Bu, W. ; Li, C. ; Men, G. ; Deng, M. ; Jiangyao, Y. ; Sun, H. ; Jiang, S. ; Dalton Trans. 2008, 44, 11352; Li, H. ; Wang, J. ; Zhang, S. ; Gong, C. ; Wang, F. ; RSC Adv. 2008, 8, 31889; Sun, J. ; Ye, B. ; Xia, G. ; Wang, H. ; Sens. Actuators, B 2008, 249, 386; Shu, Y. L. ; Zhang, D. B. ; Jin, Y. W. ; Rui, M. L. ; Zheng, C. H. ; Shou, Z. P. ; Sens. Actuators, B 2008, 245, 263.]. Figure 3b also further confirms the good linearity between enhancing efficiency (I/I0) at 516 nm and concentrations of Al3+ in the range from 30 to 90 µM, indicating that sensor TPySSB can detect quantitatively relevant concentrations of Al3+. The limits of detection (LODs) were calculated through:

(2) LOD = 3 σ S

where σ is the standard deviation of the blank measurement, which is 0.4 (n = 11) here, and S is the slope of the emission intensity vs. the concentration of aluminum ion curve. The LOD of Al3+ is 3.32 × 10-7 mol L-1.

Effects of solvent on the sensing properties of Schiff base TPySSB towards Al3+

Optical sensing nature of chemosensors was dependent on the solvent nature, so the response of TPySSB towards Al3+ was also examined in different solvents such as ethanol, N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), methanol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), 1,4-dioxane at maxima of emission intensity. From emission spectra of TPySSB and Al3+ at same concentrations in different solvents (Figure 7), the change of emission intensity has been studied. In ethanol, the solution of TPySSB and Al3+ have strong fluorescence whereas they show very weak fluorescence in other solvents such as the THF, 1,4-dioxane, DMF and methanol. Therefore, ethanol was chosen as solvent.

Figure 7
Fluorescence spectra of the TPySSB (10 μM) in the presence of 10 equiv. of Al3+ in different solvents. Excitation wavelength: 265 nm.

Proposed binding mechanism

In order to understand the structural information of Al3+ binding in TPySSB-Al3+ complex, the technique of FTIR spectrum is applied. For the free compound TPySSB, the characteristic infrared (IR) peak of the C=N group of azomethine in Schiff base is detected at 1573 cm-1, while the typical IR peak of the C-O group of salicylidene in Schiff base is located at 1188 cm-1. Upon addition of Al3+, the characteristic IR peak at 1573 and 1188 cm-1 disappeared, and new characteristic IR peak at 1703, 1523 and 1385 cm-1 appeared (Figure 8). This suggested that the phenolic OH, the nitrogen atom in azomethine and the pyridine have participated in the coordination with Al3+. The binding mode of TPySSB with Al3+ was also studied by analyzing electrospray ionization MS spectra. A characteristic peak at m/z 580.0779, corresponding to TPySSB+2Al3++NO3+2H2OH++,2323 Saini, A. K. ; Sharma, V. ; Mathur, P. ; Shaikh, M. M. ; Sci. Rep. 2008, 6, 34807. is present in the positive-ion mass spectrum of TPySSB-Al3+ complex, confirming that the stoichiometry ratio between TPySSB and Al3+ is 1:2.

Figure 8
FTIR spectra (KBr) of chemosensor TPySSB and TPySSB-Al3+ complex.

Figure 9 shows the 1H NMR spectra of single TPySSB and complex TPySSB-Al3+. The absence of the chemical shift corresponding to the proton in the phenolic hydroxyl and the azomethine-H further confirms the coordination of the phenolic hydroxy, nitrogen atom in azomethine and pyridine with Al3+. According to the above results, the proposed binding mode between TPySSB and Al3+ is inferred as follows, as shown in Figure 10. The effectiveness of TPySSB on the coordination of Al3+ is focused on its oxygen on phenolic group and nitrogen on the azomethine and pyridine. It is accepted generally that the chelating moiety of 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine and the chelating groups of C=N and -OH are very closely associated with the metal cations, which is attributed to the synergistic effect of the inhibition of C=N isomerization and photoinduced electron-transfer process between the terpyridine-Al3+ moiety and salicylidene moiety of the molecule. Therefore, for TPySSB, both the fluorescence enhancement and the high selectivity are focused on Al3+, which is over the other tested metal ions.

Figure 9
1H NMR spectra (400 MHz, acetone-d6) of TPySSB with 2.2 equiv. of Al3+ complex and TPySSB.
Figure 10
Proposed mechanism for the fluorescent sensing of TPySSB to Al3+.

Conclusions

In summary, we have developed two new 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridines-derived Schiff base chemosensors (TPySSB and TPySB) for the highly selective determination of Al3+ in ethanol. The sensing property of TPySSB and TPySB was studied by UV-Vis, fluorescence, FTIR and 1H NMR experiments. Upon addition of metal ions, the TPySSB shows remarkable ‘off-on’ fluorescence for Al3+. Moreover, it displayed excellent selectivity to Al3+ with a 1:2 binding mode which was proposed based on a Job’s plot and confirmed by 1H NMR analysis. Based on these results, we believe that combining 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine unit and salicylidene unit will offer an important guidance to the development of a highly selective chemosensor.

Experimental

Materials and instruments

4’-Amine-2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridines was synthesized by a method previously described in the literature. 2424 Li, H. ; Zhang, S. ; Gong, C. ; Li, Y. ; Liang, Y. ; Qi, Z. ; Chen, S. ; Analyst 2008, 138, 7090. Salicylaldehyde and benzaldehyde were purchased from Innochem (Beijing, China) and used without further purification. All organic solvents were of analytical reagent grade. The metal ions were NaCl, KCl, CaCl2, MgCl2·6H2O, NiCl2·6H2O, CuCl2·2H2O, ZnCl2, BaCl2·2H2O, HgCl2, CoCl2·6H2O, MnCl2·4H2O, FeCl2·4H2O, FeCl3·6H2O, CrCl3·6H2O, Cd(NO3)2·4H2O, Pd(NO3)2, Al(NO3)3·9H2O and AgNO3. All the metal ion solutions for the study were prepared in distilled water. 1H and 13C NMR spectra were obtained by a JEOL EX-400 spectrometer with acetone-d6 as solvent and tetramethylsilane as the internal reference. UV-Vis spectra were acquired through a Lambda 35 spectrophotometer (PerkinElmer) and fluorescence were recorded by a LS-55 spectrofluorophotometer (PerkinElmer).

Synthesis of the salicylidene Schiff base (TPySSB)

4’-Amine-2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridines (0.324 g, 1 mmol) was put into a 100 mL round-bottom flask equipped with condenser, thermometer and magnetic stirrer. With the supplement of methanol (40 mL) to the flask, the reaction mixture was heated up to 80 ºC. The solution composed of 0.122 g (1 mol) salicylaldehyde and 10 mL methanol was added subsequently. After 24 h reaction under reflux, the resulting solution was cooled to room temperature to give yellow powder, which was filtered, washed with methanol and dried under vacuum to obtain yellow powder product (0.35 g, yield: 82.4%). FTIR (KBr, Figure S1, SI section) ν / cm-1 3410 (O-H), 3054 (C-N), 1622 (C=N), 1573 (C=C), 1493 and 1454 (C=N), 1279 (C-O); 1H NMR (400 MHz, acetone-d6, TMS, Figure S2, SI section) δ 13.18 (s, -OH), 8.96 (s, -N=CH), 7.96 (d, J 8 Hz, 2H), 7.86 (d, J 8 Hz, 2H), 7.58 (d, J 8 Hz, 2H), 7.49 (d, J 8 Hz, 2H), 7.46-7.31 (m, 8H), 6.94 (d, J 8 Hz, 2H); 13C NMR (100 MHz, acetone-d6, TMS, Figure S3, SI section) δ 164.41, 162.24, 148.79, 137.90, 134.18, 133.86, 129.79, 128.87, 127.35, 126.30, 122.81, 120.46, 120.02, 117.78, 100.62; HRMS m/z, calcd. for C28H21N4O [M + H]+: 429.1716, found: 429.0874.

Synthesis of the Schiff base (TPySB)

The Schiff base (TPySB) was also synthesized by the same method. 0.37 g, yield: 89.8%; FTIR (KBr, Figure S1, SI section) ν / cm-1 3059 and 3026 (C-N), 1620 (C=N), 1517 (C=C), 1446 (C=N); 1H NMR (400 MHz, acetone-d6, TMS, Figure S4, SI section) δ 8.56 (s, -N=CH), 8.02-6.73 (m, 19H); HRMS m/z, calcd. for C28H21N4 [M + H]+: 413.1767, found: 413.1058.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the research support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51808414, 21908169), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2017M612520), National Science Foundation of Hubei Province of China (No. 2016CFB264, 2018CFB108) and the Program of Hubei Provincial Department of Education, China (No. Q20171507).

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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    19 Aug 2020
  • Date of issue
    Sept 2020

History

  • Received
    11 Oct 2019
  • Accepted
    07 Apr 2020
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