Colorimetric and Fluorimetric Detection of Fe(III) Using a Rhodamine-Imidazole Hydrazone Based Chemosensor: Photophysical Properties, DFT, TGA, and DSC Studies.

Rhodamine-imidazole hydrazones (RIH-1 & RIH-2) based chemosensors have been synthesized. These are characterised and evaluated by FT-IR spectroscopy, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, LCMS, absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. These chemosensors exhibit enhanced sensitivity and selectivity in detecting the biologically significant Fe³⁺ metal ion through both colorimetric and fluorescence changes. The optical properties have been investigated using binary acetonitrile-water (7:3 v/v) semi-aqueous solution. The probe RIH-1 can be deployed as a fluorescent and colorimetric probe for the detection of Fe³⁺ ion. It shows an absorption band at 559 nm and an intensity band at 579 nm increasing up to 50-fold with the increase in the concentration of Fe³⁺ with the detection limit as low as 11nM. In the visible light, RIH-1 helps in the detection of Fe³⁺ ion through the naked eye, while the addition of Fe³⁺ to the probe RIH-1 results in a colour change from colourless to pink. This is primarily due to the opening of the lactone ring in RIH-1. Notably, RIH-1 probe displays a high quantum yield of 0.51, after binding with Fe³⁺ ions. Indeed, it has been found that sensor RIH-1 is very effective in sensing Fe³⁺ ions through both fluorescence based and visual detection methods. Additionally, DFT studies of these chemosensors have been evaluated, TGA and DSC analysis showed good thermal stability.