Highly selective and sensitive optical discrimination of pyrophosphate ion by a Zn(ll)-terpyridine complex in aqueous medium at physiological pH

•A simple Zn(ll)-terpyridine complex was synthesized by the reaction of ZnCl2 with 4′-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)−2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine ligand (DMTRP) in 1:1 ratio.•The synthesized complex was treated as a selective fluorescent probe for pyrophosphate P2O74− (PPi) amongst other anions like F¯, Cl¯, Br¯, I¯, AcO¯, CO32¯, NO2¯, SO32¯, H2SO4¯, HPO4¯ etc.•Further to study the sensing mechanism of the complex, theoretical calculations were carried out.•Also from theoretical parameters the reactivity, stability and charges of the terpyridine ligand with its zinc complex was calculated. A simple Zn(ll)-terpyridine complex was synthesized by the reaction of ZnCl2 with 4′-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine ligand (DMTRP) in 1:1 ratio. The synthesized complex was treated as a selective fluorescent probe for pyrophosphate P2O74− (PPi) amongst other anions like F¯, Cl¯, Br¯, I¯, AcO¯, CO32¯, NO2¯, SO32¯, H2PO4¯, HPO4¯ etc. A 1:3 binding stoichiometry was found from the job's plot analysis. Further to study the sensing mechanism of the complex, theoretical calculations were carried out. Also from theoretical parameters the reactivity, stability and charges of the terpyridine ligand with its zinc complex was calculated. [Display omitted]