A receptor based on diphenylaniline donor connected with difuran and pyridine as acceptors: Synthesis, crystal structure and selective detection of iron ion

Abstract

In this work, the fluorescent receptor 4-(2,6-di(furan-2-yl)pyridin-4-yl)-N,N-diphenylaniline (DFPDA) was successfully synthesized overall in three steps, which bears three acceptor moieties one pyridine and two furans connected to a donor triphenylamine The DFPDA was fully characterized through sup(1)H-NMR, sup(13)C-NMR, ESI mass and elemental analysis. Further, single X-ray structure confirm the intermediate and final DFPDA molecules. When we employed DFPDA molecule for sensing of metal ion, it shows selective detection of Fe sup(3+) over other metal ions (Cu sup(2+), K sup(+), Cd sup(2+), Co sup(2+), Mn sup(2+), Ni sup(2+), Ba sup(2+), Hg sup(2+), Al sup(3+), Pb sup(2+), Zn sup(2+), Ca sup(2+), Fe sup(2+) as their respective salts) dissolving in 1:1 water/DMSO solution with the binding constant 3.75X10 sup(-5)M. The limit of detection of DFPDA was found to be 52 nM which is much lower than the environmental protection agency guidelines (5.37 Mu M). Therefore, we believe that the DFPDA 1 fluorescent receptor may become outstanding chromophore for practical applications. Competing financial interests: The authors declare no competing interests.