Synthesis of Triazoles for Ion Detection Studies

The purpose of this study is to synthesize novel, organic, ion-sensors using a structural scaffold made from commercially available materials. Many ion-sensors reported in literature involve multistep syntheses which use costly reagents and are low yielding.1 With “Click Chemistry,” we have access to a basic 1,2,3-triazole scaffold that can be easily modified to provide specificity in ion-detection. Our sensors are made in one to two steps and the “Click” reaction is highly efficient and produces very little byproducts. Recent work in our laboratory has revealed that our triazoles, depending on the attached moieties, are suitable for the detection Heavy metals (HM) as well as anions. Investigations for HM detection are currently underway and preliminary results have been obtained with anion detection. Here we report results for the syntheses our sensors and our initial work with fluoride-detection