1-Adamantanamine-based triazole-appended organosilanes as chromogenic “naked-eye” and fluorogenic “turn-on” sensors for the highly selective detection of Sn2+ ions

Abstract

The current investigation illustrates the design and facile synthesis of the 1-adamantanamine-based organosilanes 4a–dvia a click silylation approach, and they were characterized well via NMR (¹H and ¹³C) and mass spectroscopic techniques. All the synthesized organosilanes possessed preferential selectivity towards Sn²⁺ ions in the presence of other relevant ions and served as colorimetric/fluorimetric dual-channel probes. The probes have been successfully employed as “naked-eye” sensors with a visible color change in daylight from transparent white to golden yellow upon binding with Sn²⁺ ions. The enhancement in fluorescence is attributed to the inhibition of the PET process upon interaction with Sn²⁺ ions. Furthermore, BH plots reveal the presence of strong binding with 1 : 1 stoichiometry in the physiological pH range. Moreover, the limits of detection when using 4a–d towards Sn²⁺ found in this study are far lower than the WHO guidelines for drinking water. Interestingly, the chemosensor 4a has been successfully employed for performing recovery testing of Sn²⁺ in real soil samples. Owing to these enticing features, this present protocol could enormously expedite the design and development of chemosensors for the detection of Sn²⁺ ions.