ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

A novel indolium salt as a rapid colorimetric probe for cyanide detection in aqueous solution

Dan Wen, Xuankai Deng, and Yanhua Yu

Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, Jianghan University, Wuhan, China

E-mail: hpyyh@aliyun.com

Received: 14 July 2020  Accepted: 19 September 2020

Abstract:

In this study, a new chemosensor IDTTH for rapid detection of cyanide (CN^─) based on 6,6,12,12-Tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)-6,12-dihydrodithieno[2,3-d:2′,3′-d′]-s-indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b′]di- thiophene-2,8-dicarboxaldehyde-hemicyanine conjugate has been developed. The 6,6,12,12-tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)-6,12-dihydrodithi-eno[2,3-d:2′,3′-d′]-s-indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b′]dithiophene was served as a signal unit and hemicyanine as a recognition unit. This probe shows high selectivity towards CN^─ ions among tested anions. Addition of CN^─ ions to probe IDTTH in semi-aqueous solution (acetonitrile/H₂O = 1/1, V/V) could lead to a 195 nm blue shift of absorption band, together with colour changes from blue to yellow. The sensing mechanism is attributed to the nucleophilic addition between CN^─ and the C=N bond of indolium group, which could be clearly clarified through the ¹H NMR titration and MS spectral. Moreover, probe IDTTH could be used as the test strips with low cost to detect CN^─ ions conveniently by naked eyes.

Keywords: Cyanide detection; Colorimetric probe; Indolium salt; Test strips

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-020-01371-3

Chemical Papers 75 (3) 1095–1102 (2021)