Selective anion receptor for fluoride detection using ferrocenyl-boronate derivative

The reaction of ferrocenecarboxaldehyde with (2-aminoethoxy) diphenylborane led to the formation of ferrocenyl-substituted boronate receptor 1, which was characterized by IR, MS, HRMS, B-11, H-1 and C-13 NMR spectra. The signaling process was confirmed by UV-vis, electrochemistry measurements as well as H-1 and F-19 NMR spectroscopy. The receptor 1 exhibited high selectivity for F- in CH3CN solution over all the other anions in the DPVs (differential pulse voltammetry). H-1 NMR titrations indicated that F- ion induced tautomerism of E-and Z-isomer transformations of the receptor 1 and there were three kinds of protons showing obvious highfield shifts for receptor 1 in DMSO-d(6). UV-vis titrations demonstrated that the receptor 1 could bind F- ion forming 1: 1 stoichiometric complexes and show high selectivity and sensitivity towards F- ion. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.