Exploratory studies on azido-bridged complexes (Ni 2+ and Mn 2+ ) as dual colourimetric chemosensors for S 2− and Ag + : combined experimental and theoretical outcomes with real field applications

• Published in: Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry Vol. 49; no. 37; pp. 13090 - 13099
• Main Authors: Pandit, Nithun Ranjan, Bej, Sourav, Mondal, Ananya, Ghosh, Meenakshi, Kostakis, George E., Powell, Annie K., Banerjee, Priyabrata, Biswas, Biplab
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 29.09.2020
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/D0DT02846K

We report two isostructural dinuclear transition metal complexes [M 2 (HL) 2 (N 3 ) 4 ], where M = Ni 2+ ( BS-1 ), Mn 2+ ( BS-2 ), and HL is (2-methyl-2-((pyridin-2-ylmethyl)amino)propan-1-ol) and investigate them as molecular sensors towards hazardous entities. BS-1 shows high selectivity towards the S 2− and Ag + ions, easily observed by the naked eye colour change and its detection limit in aqueous solutions for the S 2− ion was calculated as 0.55 μM with a binding constant of 3.28 × 10 5 M −1 , while the limit for the Ag + ion is 21.8 μM. Notably, BS-2 shows good selectivity towards the Ag + ion with a detection limit of 10.84 μM. Spectroscopic and DFT studies shed light on the mechanistic course of interaction between the host and guest entities, suggesting a sulphide-mediated reduction of the azide mechanism. In a nutshell, these simple transition metal complexes were exploited for discriminately detecting hazardous analytes with real field applications in analytical science ( via. “ Dip-Stick ” approach) as well as engineering science, which provides a significant contribution in the recent advancement of supramolecular chemistry.