DESIGN, SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A FLUOROPHORE AND SENSING OF Zn2+

Abstract

A chemosensor probe 2,6-bis((E)-(2-(6-chloropyridin-2-yl)-2- phenylhydrazineylidene)methyl)-4-methoxyphenol has been designed and synthesized via 2,6-diformyl-4-methoxyphenol and 2-chloro-6-(1-phenylhydrazineyl)pyridine in 1:2 ratio in methanol and was characterised using various spectroscopic methods for the highly selective recognition of zinc ions over other metal ions. The chemosensing behaviour was determined using fluorescence spectroscopy. The probe was found to be highly sensitive for Zn2+ with a very low detection limit (LOD) of 0.4nM. The probe synthesized showed weak fluorescence and its intensity increases ~80-fold with the addition of Zn2+. It was found that in presence of metal ions like Co2+ and Cu2+, the quenching of fluorescence occurs. It can be implied that it is due to their paramagnetic nature. Because of its very low LOD the probe has been used to qualitatively detect zinc in random water samples. We also found its application in detecting aggregation of PrP protein.