Absorption of heavy metals present in food/water containers with nucleotides in safe sustainable solvents

Heavy metal deposition poses a serious risk to climate change and ecosystem survival. Bio accumulation of heavy metals is chronic to various body organs and tissues. Heavy metal exposure mainly occurs through food and water. Heavy metals used in food and water containers lead to their leaching into the liquids and foods. The continuous industrial release of heavy metals triggers massive synthesis of hetero cycles as metal chelators. In this study, triazole-nucleoside and triazole-nucleotide hybrids, viz., T1 and T2, were prepared from triazole with cytidine and guanine at room temperature. The probes were studied for metal binding affinity with Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, Zn²⁺, Mn²⁺, and Pb²⁺ ions with NMR, UV, and HPLC titrations. The lowest detection limit is 20 ng/ml. The formation of red-shifted peaks between 218.5 to 254.5 nm in the parent spectrum of T1 and between 290 and 312.5 nm of T2 after metal binding showed the selectivity in binding. In heavy metal detoxification of physical environment and bio matrix, the limit of detection (Lod) plays a crucial quantitative role. The increasing order of metal capture is T1……Ni²⁺ > T2…….Ni²⁺ > T1……Pb²⁺ > T2……..Pb²⁺ as seen in Lod values. This order further amplifies the selective nature of probes in metal sensing for food and water safety in bio based safe solvent viz., aqueous acetonitrile.