A hexa-quinoline based C 3 -symmetric chemosensor for dual sensing of zinc(ii) and PPi in an aqueous medium via chelation induced "OFF-ON-OFF" emission

A quinoline-based C3-symmetric fluorescent probe (1), N,N',N''-((2,4,6-trimethylbenzene-1,3,5-triyl)tris(methylene))tris(1-(quinolin-2-yl)-N-(quinolin-2-ylmethyl)methanamine), has been developed which can selectively detect Zn2+ without the interference of Cd2+via significant enhancement in emission intensity (fluorescence "turn-ON") associated with distinct fluorescence colour changes and very low detection limits (35.60 × 10-9 M in acetonitrile and 29.45 × 10-8 M in 50% aqueous buffer (10 mM HEPES, pH = 7.4) acetonitrile media). Importantly, this sensor is operative with a broad pH window (pH 4-10). The sensing phenomenon has been duly studied through UV-vis, steady-state, and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopic methods indicating 1 : 3 stoichiometric binding between 1 and Zn2+ which is further corroborated by 1H NMR studies. Density functional theoretical (DFT) calculations provide the optimized molecular geometry and properties of the zinc complex, 1[Zn(ClO4)]33+, which is proposed to be formed in acetonitrile. The results are in line with the solution-state experimental findings. The single crystal X-ray study provides the solid state structure of the trinuclear Zn2+ complex showing solubility in an aqueous buffer (10 mM HEPES, pH = 7.4). Finally, the resulting trinuclear Zn2+ complex has been utilized as a fluorescence "turn-OFF" sensor for the selective detection of pyrophosphate in a 70% aqueous buffer (10 mM HEPES, pH = 7.4) acetonitrile solvent with a nanomolar detection limit (45.37 × 10-9 M).