Imidazole-based dual functional chemosensor for the recognition of Cu2+and CN- : Applications in real water samples and colorimetric test strips

The simple imidazole-based chemosensor 1,4-phenylenebis(3-(3-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-2-hydroxyphenyl)acrylonitrile (PDIA) has been constructed for the selective discrimination of CN- and Cu2+ ions. The chemosensor PDIA can be easily prepared from 3-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde and 1,4-Phenylenediacetonitrile. When exposed to Cu2+ and CN- ions in solution, this chemosensor exhibited a dramatic color shift and fluorescence switch off. The detection limits for Cu2+ and CN- were 6.36 and 3.75 nM, respectively, which were far lower than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. The proposed mechanism of sensor PDIA was supported by high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and density-functional theory (DFT) analyses. Additionally, the sensor PDIA has been successfully used to analyze-samples.