Selective turn-on fluorescence sensing of Fe2+in real water samples by chalcones

The design of fluorescence sensor for selective detection of Fe2+ is very important as it is part of different biochemical redox system related to a number of diseases. In many occasion sensors are unable to distinguish Fe2+ from Fe3+ ions. In the present work, we report simple chalcone type sensors for sensing Fe2+ ions in semi aqueous system. The receptors R1 and R2 have showed excellent sensing properties at pH 7 in CH3OH-H2O (1:1, v/v) solvent system. The fluorescence emission intensity of the complexes between hosts and Fe2+ is least affected by the other competitive metal ions leading to the formation of very tight host-guest complex. The LOD for the R1 and R2 for Fe2+ are 1.91 mu M and 3.54 mu M respectively, which is quite low in compared to the many other reported sensors. The practical applicability of these sensors is determined by the detection of Fe2+ in real water samples. So chalcones would be cost effective PET inhibited fluorescence sensor for Fe2+.