Rhodamine based selective turn-on sensing of picric acid

A rhodamine based derivative RDD-1 bearing dimethylaminobenzaldehyde has been designed and synthesized. It is a highly sensitive and selective chemosensor towards picric acid without having any interference from other NAC's. To the best of our knowledge, the present probe is the first example of a rhodamine based sensor that facilitates the detection of powerful explosive picric acid even at picomolar concentration.