A novel heterocyclic thiosemicarbazone: synthesis, characterization and preliminary sensing studies for ions

Abstract

Over the past few decades, interest in the fast and sensitive recognition and detection of molecules and ions with biological and/or environmental relevance has increased. Therefore, the search for new molecules capable of coordinating these analytes is an important topic of investigation, especially concerning those with an optical response (via color or fluorescence changes). Thi-osemicarbazones are versatile organic compounds due to their wide range of biological activities and interesting optical, electronic and redox properties. Additionally, they possess various bind-ing sites, whose complexing ability can be tuned by the introduction of substituents of different electronic character. Having this in mind, we report the synthesis of a new thiosemicarbazone de-rivative functionalized with a quinoline moiety. The new compound was characterized by 1H and 13C NMR, UV-vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies. Moreover, a preliminary chemosensory study was undertaken in acetonitrile solutions in the presence of relevant ions with biological, medicinal and environmental relevance, showing that this receptor has potential appli-cation as a fluorimetric chemosensor.