Cinnamaldehyde-Based Chemosensor for Colorimetric Detection of Cu2+ and Hg2+ in a Near-Perfect Aqueous Solution

A cinnamaldehyde-based colorimetric chemosensor TAA (N'-((1E,2Z)-3-(4-(dimethylamino)phenyhallylidene)thiophene-2-carbohydrazicie) was newly developed. TAA can detect Cu2+ and Hg2+ ions by different color changes from pale yellow to deep yellow and orange, respectively, in aqueous media. TAA differently binds to Cu2+ as a 1:1 ratio and Hg2+ as a 2:1 ratio. The detection limits towards both analytes turned out to be 0.08 mu M for Cu2+ and 0.01 mu M for Hg2+. Moreover, TAA could successfully quantify Cu2+ and Hg(2+ )in tap and drinking water. The detection processes of TAA towards Cu2+ and Hg2+ were demonstrated by using DFT calculations.