Anions play important roles in various environmental and biological processes. They are therefore ubiquitous<br/>in the environment and detecting the presence of critical anions, especilally toxic ones in infinitesimal quantities with great selectivity and specificity remains an important pursuit for many supramolecular and analytical chemists. Towards this end, we report the studies of isoniazid-based amido(thi)urea and (thio)urea colorimetric anion sensors synthesized for and by undergraduates in an analytical chemistry and organic chemistry students repectively. Various ligands bearing (thio)urea and amido(thi)urea groups attached to nitrophenyl moieties, have been reported to be colorimetric anion sensors through intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) mechanisms resulting from deprotonation. These ligands show varied colorimetric and luminescent responses upon interaction with common anions such as cyanide, acetate, fluoride, chloride, benzoate, hydrogensulphate, dihydrogenphosohate, perchlorate, bromide and iodide. In this presentation we share students' experience in synthesizing the receptors and testing their sensitivity, selectivity and detection limits of various anion in the lab.

Colorimetric anion sensing in undergraduate analytical chemistry

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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