A simple indolo[2,3-a]carbazole based colorimetric chemosensor for simultaneous detection of Cu2 and Fe3 ions

A new indolo[2,3-alcarbazole based colorimetric chemosensor Cl was designed and synthesized. The optical properties of Cl were investigated by UV-vis spectroscopy, UV-vis titrations, and fluorescence spectroscopy. The HOMO and LUMO values of Cl were obtained using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results indicate that Cl has specific selectivity and high sensitivity for detection of Cu2 and Fe31 ions compared with metal ions (K, Nal, Mg2 ' Zn2, CLI21, Pb2, Hg2 ', Ag', Co2, Cr2 ' Ni2, Mn2,13a2). The presence of Cu2 ions leads to visible color change from yellow to colorless in an aqueous-acetonitrile solution, especially. Moreover, the detection limit for the analysis of Cu2' and Ee3 ' ions is found to be as low as 2.93 x 10 - M and 4.10 x 10 7 M, respectively. Therefore, Cl should have potential applications as a practical colorimetric chemosensor for simultaneous detection of Cit2' and Fe3 in the environment and biological systems. 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.