Naked Eye Chemosensing of Anions by Schiff Bases

Spectacular color change during a chemical reaction is always fascinating. A variety of chemosensors including Schiff bases have been reported for selective as well as sensitive recognition of ions. This review explains the use of Schiff bases as color changing agents in the detection of anions. This magic of colors is attributed to change in the electronic structure of the system during reaction. Schiff base chemosensors are easy to synthesize, inexpensive and can be used for visual sensing of different ions. Development of Schiff base chemosensors is commonly based on the interactions between polar groups of Schiff bases and ionic species and the process of charge transfer, electron transfer and hydrogen bonding between Schiff bases and ionic species cause the color of the resultant to be changed. Therefore, designing of simple Schiff base chemosensors which are capable of selective sensing of different anions has attracted considerable interest. In particular, naked eye sensing through color change is important and useful since it allows sensing of ions through color changes without using any instrumental technique.