Selective Detection of Cu (II) ionsin Neat Aqueous Solution – An Innovative Fluorescent Chemosensor

Ion sensors particularly organic fluorescent chemo sensors are very much researched in recent times for detection of metal ions in food and especially water more so in the third world countries. Their significance lies in the ease of use, solubility in aqueous medium, and comparatively cheaper alternative to sophisticated techniques such as AAS, ICP-AES or ICP-MS. Cu (II) ions play a vital role in the physiological system of living organisms and is required to be present within a specified range so as to avoid complications by either being deficient or abundant than the specified limit by WHO. This paper reports thesynthesis of a novel watersoluble fluorescent Schiff baseas a chemoselective metal ion detector for Cu (II) ions. It displays favorable quenching of fluorescence for Cu (II) ionsfrom amongst a wide range of other metal ionswhich are commonly present in food and drinking water. The sensor has a detection limit of 1.44μM which is much less than the permissible limit of 31.4μM for Cu (II) ions as specified by WHO. The novel chemo sensor thus synthesized provides rapid, selective and a highly sensitiveresponse to Cu (II) ions which provides the scope of this chemo sensor in being developed further into becoming the sensor of choice for the determination of Cu (II) ions in water samples