Novel blue emissive dimethylfuran tethered 2-aminopyridine-3-carbonitrile as dual responsive fluorescent chemosensor for Fe3+ and picric acid in nanomolar detection limit

The solvent-free microwave-assisted one-pot four-component reaction of 1-(2,5-dimethylfuran-3-yl)ethan-1-one, malononitrile, aryl aldehydes and ammonium acetate occurred through a five-step multiple bond-forming transformation (MBFT) to afford 2-amino-4-aryl-6-(2,5-dimethylfuran-3-yl)-pyridine-3-carbonitriles in excellent yields. One of these dimethylfuran tethered 2-aminopyridine-3-carbonitriles has been discovered as a fluorescent chemosensor for Fe3+ ions and picric acid, with a detection limits of 4.6 and 7.9 nM, respectively by 'turn off' mechanism.