Synthesis and application of a highly fluorescent styryl-benzothiadiazole derivative as a chemosensor for ethanol in hydroalcoholic solutions

[Display omitted] •The synthesis of two ICT-based styryl-BTD derivatives is described.•Fluorescence of the compounds is dependent of surrounding media.•Fluorescence of 4 responds linearly to ethanol content.•4 is an efficient chemosensor for ethanol in sanitizers and cleaning products. Two fluorescent D-A-D styryl-benzothiadiazole fluorophores possessing either styryl-BTD-styryl (2) or aryl-BTD-styryl (4) architectures have been synthesized using Heck reactions as key step. Compounds presented absorption in blue region and emission ranging from 531 to 560 nm with positive solvatochromism. Lippert Mattaga plots indicated a substantial effect of solvent polarity over the emission profile. As the fluorescence of the compound 4 was more sensitive to changes in the environment, this compound was evaluated as a probe to chemosensing etanol/water percentage in hydroalcoholic solutions. Good linearity was observed between fluorescence intensity and ethanol content in the range from 40% to 90%. Analyses of commercial solutions of sanitizers and cleaning products (% ethanol = 46%, 70% and 92%) indicate that reference values are within the confidence interval of experimental results produced by the proposed method.